092. 


mm  i 


TRADITIONS  OF  THE 
CROWS 


LIBRARY 


s 

University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


FIELD  COLUMBIAN   MUSEUM 

PUBLICATION  85 
ANTHROPOLOGICAL  SERIES  VOL.  II,  No.  6 


TRADITIONS  OF   THE   CROWS 


BY 


S.   C.   SIM 
Assistant  Curator,  Division  of  Ethnology. 


GKORGE   A.   DORSEY 

•rater  of  Department. 


CHICAGO,  U.  S.  A. 

October,  1903 


FIELD  COLUMBIAN   MUSEUM 

PUBLICATION  85 
ANTHROPOLOGICAL  SERIES  VOL.  II,  No.  6 


TRADITIONS  OF   THE   CROWS 


BY 


S.  C.  SIMMS 

Assistant  Curator,  Division  of  Ethnol<>_;\ 


GEORGE  A.  DORSEY 

Curator  of  Department. 


CHICAGO,  U.  S.  A. 

October,  1903 


E 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE. 

During  the  summer  of  1902,  while  the  writer  was  en- 
gaged in  collecting  ethnological  material  among  the 
Absahrokee  (Crow)  Indians,  of  Montana,  for  the  Field 
Columbian  Museum,  the  following  traditions  of  that 
tribe  were  gathered. 

All  of  the  tradijtions  were  related,  through  a  most 
competent  interpreter,  by  the  second  oldest  man  of  the 
tribe,  known  as  Bull-that-goes-hunting. 

S.  C.  SIMMS. 
October,  1903. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


Introductory  Note 

1.  Origin  Myth    -  -      281 

2.  Old  Man  Coyote  and  the  Theft  of  Summer      -  282 

3.  Old  Man  Coyote  and  the  Strawberry  284 

4.  Old  Man  Coyote  and  the  Bears  285 

5.  Old  Man  Coyote  and  the  Buffalo  285 

6.  Old  Man  Coyote  and  the  Four  Men,  Fat,  Grease  and  Berries  285 

7.  Old  Man  Coyote  and  the  Gooseberry  Bushes        -  -      286 

8.  Old  Man  Coyote  and  the  Indian  Turnip  287 

9.  Old  Man  Coyote  and  the  Beavers    -  287 

10.  Old  Man  Coyote,  the  Wolf  and  the  Holes  in  the  Ice  287 

11.  Old  Man  Coyote,   Bald-Head    Eagle  and  his  Illegitimate   Offspring, 

the  Thunder-Bird  and  the  Morning  Star  288 

12.  Old  Man  Coyote,  the  Man  and  Cow  Buffalo  and  Cow  Elk  -      289 

13.  Old  Man  Coyote  and  the  Infant  who  was  Adopted  by  the  Buffalo    -  290 

14.  Old  Man  Coyote,  the  Giants  and  their  Little  Enemies     -  295 

15.  Old  Man  Coyote,  the  Young  Man  and  Two  Otter  Sisters  297 

16.  Old  Man  Coyote,  his  Deeds  and  "Sore  Tail"  299 

17.  The  Creator,  the  Porcupine  and  the  Climbing  Woman  209 

18.  Bones-Together  301 

19.  Red-Woman  and  the  Deeds  of  Two  Boys        -  303 

20.  The  Stump-Horn  and  the  Bladder  -  307 

21.  The  Beautiful  Daughter  of  a  Chief,  her  Wicked   Husband  and  the 

Seven  Brothers  -      309 

22.  The  Selfish  Chief  and  the  Two  Boys  312 

23.  The  Young  Men  and  the  Turtle  -       314 

24.  Dwarfs  on  the  Ledge       -  315 

25.  The  Place  where  the  Buffalo  go  over  by  the  Will  of  the  Sun      -  -      315 

26.  Baby  Tracks  316 
Abstracts         -  317 


TRADITIONS  OF  THE  CROWS. 

i. — ORIGIN  MYTH. 

Long  before  there  was  any  land,  and  before  any  living  thing  ex- 
isted excepting  four  little  Ducks,  the  Creator,  whom  we  call  Old-Man, 
came  and  said  to  the  Ducks,  " Which  one  of  you  is  brave?"  One  de- 
clared that  he  was  the  bravest.  Old-Man  said  to  the  Duck,  "Dive 
down  in  the  water  and  get  some  dirt  from  the  bottom  and  I  will  see 
what  I  can  do  with  it." 

The  brave  Duck  went  down  and  was  gone  a  long  time,  and  when 
it  came  up  it  carried  upon  its  beak  some  dirt  that  it  gave  to  Old-Man, 
who  held  it  in  his  hand  until  it  became  dry ;  then  he  blew  it  in  various 
directions  and  made  land  and  the  mountains  and  the  rivers. 

Old-Man,  who  was  all  powerful,  was  asked  by  the  Ducks  to  make 
other  living  things.  Old-Man  took  more  dirt  in  his  hand  and  after  it 
dried,  blew  it  out,  and  there  stood  a  man  and  a  woman  that  were  Crow 
Indians;  and  from  this  dirt  Crows  appeared.  Old-Man  explained  to 
them  how  to  increase  in  number. 

The  man  and  woman  were  blind,  but  after  opening  their  eyes  they 
told  the  others  to  do  so,  and  when  the  first  two  saw  their  nakedness 
they  asked  for  something  to  clothe  themselves.  Old-Man  made  of  the 
dirt  different  animals  and  fruits  so  that  they  might  have  food  and  cloth- 
ing. Old-Man  killed  a  buffalo  and  then  took  a  rock  and  broke  it,  and 
with  one  of  the  pieces  cut  up  the  buffalo  and  explained  its  parts.  The 
man  was  told  how  to  make  arrow  heads,  axes,  knives  and  cooking  ves- 
sels of  hard  stone.  For  carrying  water,  Old-Man  told  him  to  take  the 
offals  of  the  buffalo;  and  from  the  pouch  make  a  bucket  and  for  a 
drinking  cup,  to  take  the  horn  of  the  buffalo  or  the  mountain  sheep. 
Old-Man  told  the  man  to  take  the  best  pieces  of  the  buffalo  for  food ; 
and  that  when  he  had  had  enough,  to  take  the  hide  and  with  it  make 
a  robe.  Old-Man  showed  the  woman  how  to  dress  the  skin.  For 
making  a  fire  Old-Man  told  them  how  to  take  two  sticks  and  place  a 
little  sand  upon  one  of  the  sticks  with  the  driest  buffalo  manure  and  to 
take  the  other  stick  and  twist  between  the  hands  until  fire  came.  Old- 
Man  told  them  to  take  a  large  stone  and  fasten  on  a  handle  with  horse 
hide  and  with  it  break  animal  bones  to  get  the  marrow  for  making 
soup.  Old-Man  showed  them  how  to  scrape  animal  skins  with  the  bone 
of  the  foreleg  'of  an  animal. 

281 


282        FIELD  COLUMBIAN  MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  II. 

At  first  Old-Man  gave  them  no  horses;  but  dogs  to  carry  their 
things.  Old-Man  told  them  how  to  get  horses.  He  told  them  when 
they  were  going  over  a  certain  hill  not  to  look  back.  For  four  days 
they  walked  without  looking  back,  but  on  the  fourth  day  they  heard 
horses  coming  up  behind ;  so  they  turned  around  and  looked,  and  the 
horses  vanished. 

Old-Man  said  to  the  man,  "Go  up  in  the  mountains  and  cut  a  piece 
of  flesh  from  yourself  and  give  it  to  me,  and  do  not  eat  while  you  are 
there  and  you  will  have  visions  that  will  tell  you  what  to  do. ' 

Old-Man  told  them  how  to  build  a  sweat-house,  and  of  its  purpose. 

Old-Man  said:  "The  land  I  gave  you  is  the  best  of -lands  made 
by  me  and  upon  it  you  will  find  everything  you  need, — pure  water, 
vegetation,  timber,  game,  etc.  I  have  put  you  in  the  center  of  it  and 
I  have  put  people  around  you  as  your  enemies.  If  I  had  made  you 
in  large  numbers  you  would  be  too  powerful  and  would  kill  the  other 
people  I  have  created.  You  are  few  in  number,  but  are  brave.  These 
women  may  breed  too  fast  and  you  will  have  to  destroy  some  of  the 
young  before  they  are  born." 

Old-Man  visited  them  once,  riding  a  deer,  using  for  a  bridle  willow 
branches,  and  carrying  in  front  of  him  as  a  weapon  a  sword  of  split 
sapling. 

On  this  visit  Old-Man  saw  the  young  men  playing  a  game  with 
sticks,  and  in  their  excitement  one  of  the  young  men  went  too  near 
Old-Man  on  the  deer,  which,  being  frightened,  jumped  and  threw  Old- 
Man,  and  the  deer  ran  one  way  and  Old-Man  went  in  the  opposite 
direction,  leaving  the  bridle  and  the  sword. 

2. — OLD  MAN  COYOTE  AND  THEFT  OF  SUMMER. 

A  long  time  ago  it  was  always  winter,  and  towards  the  south 
always  summer  and  all  the  beautiful  birds  lived  there. 

The  Maker  of  all  things  appeared  in  the  form  of  a  Coyote,  all 
powerful,  and  at  certain  times  he  got  into  predicaments  that  a  child 
could  have  gotten  out  of,  so  silly  and  weak  was  Old  Man  Coyote  at 
times. 

Old  Man  Coyote  approached  a  youth  who  was  blowing  on  his 
hands  to  warm  them,  and  said,  "What  is  the  matter  with  you?''  and 
pointing  to  the  south,  said,  "Down  that  way,  all  is  summer,  and  young 
boys  like  you  run  after  young  buffalo  calves ;  and  when  the  birds  have 
their  young  ones  in  the  spring  the  boys  catch  them  and  have  a  good 
time ;  what  are  you  doing  out  here,  where  ir  is  all  so  cold  ?"  The  youth 


OCTOBER,  1903.     TRADITIONS  OF  THE  CROWS — SIMMS.  283 

thought  of  what  Old  Man  Coyote  had  told  him  and  it  made  him  feel 
badly,  so  that  he  wanted  to  see  the  summer  land  and  run  after  the 
buffalo  calves  and  the  birds.  Old  Man  Coyote  said  to  him:  "I  can 
help  you  to  get  there,  for  I  am  going  after  the  Summer ;  for  Summer 
and  Winter  are  owned  by  a  Woman  with  a  strong  heart  living  in  a 
large  tipi,  and  to  get  the  summer  I  have  to  have  four  animals/'  So 
he  got  the  male  Deer,  male  Coyote,  male  Jack  Rabbit,  and  the  male 
Wolf.  Old  Man  Coyote  asked  each  of  these  four  animals  how  far 
could  they  run,  and  each  told  his  greatest  distance.  He  said  to  these 
four  animals : 

"I  am  going  to  turn  myself  into  an  Elk.  You,  Coyote,  are  noted 
for  being  sly,  and  are  given  a  medicine  paint  to  rub  on  the  face  of 
the  Woman  (the  keeper  of  the  summer)  if  she  were  found  in  the 
tipi.  I'll  go  along  the  woods,  so  when  the  inhabitants  of  the  sum- 
mer land  come  to  kill  me  I'll  draw  them  out  from  their  tipis.  You  go 
down  and  watch  your  chance,  and  when  she  comes  out  to  see  if  her 
children  are  going  to  kill  me  you  slip  into  the  tipi,  where  there  are 
two  bags,  one  containing  Winter  and  one  containing  Summer, — the 
Summer'is  in  a  dark  bag,  and  the  Winter  is  in  a  white  bag, — but  under 
no  circumstances  take  the  white  bag."  So  Elk  (Old  Man  Coyote)  went 
down  there  and  exposed  himself  to  the  Summer  people  and  they  came 
out  to  kill  him.  The  Woman,  owner  of  Summer  and  Winter,  came, 
on  hearing  the  shouts,  to  see  if  they  would  kill  the  Elk  and  sly  Coyote 
slipped  into  her  tipi.  She  always  kept  close  watch  of  the  two  bags, 
and  as  she  thought  that  the  door  of  the  tipi  had  been  moved,  she  hur- 
ried back  to  the  tipi  and  on  entering  met  Coyote  at  the  door  coming 
out.  As  Coyote  met  her,  he  rubbed  the  medicine  paint  on  her  face  and 
she  lost  her  voice  and  so  could  not  call  her  children  to  her  assistance, 
though  she  did  everything  to  attract  their  attention. 

Coyote  made  off  with  the  bag  to  the  woods  where  the  Elk  was,  who 
directed  the  carrying  of  the  bag  containing  the  Summer.  Coyote  ran 
until  tired  out  and  then  turned  the  bag  over  to  the  male  Jack  Rabbit, 
who  took  it  a  long  way,  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  Summer  Land  in 
close  pursuit,  and  when; he  was  tired,  he  met  the  male  Deer,  to  whom 
he  gave  the  bag  with  instructions  to  carry  it  as  fast  and  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, as  the  children  were  getting  nearer.  The  male  Deer  carried  it 
until  tired,  and  he  gave  it  to  the  male  Wolf,  and  when  the  male  Wolf 
got  to  his  destination  where  the  youth  was  awaiting  them,  the  pur- 
suers were  closer  on  to  the  carriers  of  the  bag.  The  male  Wolf, 
obeying  instructions,  tore  open  the  bag  containing  the  Summer,  and 
an  agreement  was  made  between  the  youth  and  the  children  of  the 


284        FIELD  COLUMBIAN  MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  II. 

Summer  Country  that  each  country  should  have  half  summer  and  half 
winter.  And  that  is  the  reason  why  the  birds  come  up  in  the  summer 
and  go  away  in  the  winter. 

Old  Man  Coyote  planned  to  give  the  youth  what  he  promised  him 
and  he  made  the  Prairie  Chicken,  the  body  being  made  from  the  mus- 
cles of  the  buffalo ;  the  head  from  the  snake's  head ;  the  bill  from  the 
wolf's  claw;  the  tail  from  the  rattle  of  the  rattle-snake;  the  wings 
from  the  claws  of  the  black  bear ;  and  the  legs  from  caterpillars.  And 
Old  Man  Coyote  said  to  the  Prairie  Chicken,  "You  are  a  bird,  and  you 
may  go  and  scare  people  by  a  whirring  noise  you  make  when  arising 
to  fly/'  So  the  youth  had  the  birds  to  chase,  as  did  the  children  of 
the  Summer  Land.v  « 

3. — OLD  MAN  COYOTE  AND  THE  STRAWBERRY. 

.  One  day  Old  Man  Coyote  came  down  to  the  river  valley  and  was 
eating  wild  strawberries  from  a  bush  when  he  saw  four  women  com- 
ing toward  him.  He  quickly  transferred  himself  under  the  earth  and 
under  the  strawberry  bush  and  caused  his  penis  to  project  up  in  the 
bush  among  the  strawberries  and  when  the  women  came  along  to  the 
strawberry  bush  where  Old  Man  Coyote  was  concealed,  they  began 
to  pick^and  eat  the  strawberries,  and  one  of  them  tried  to  pick  the 
head  of  the  penis  for  a  strawberry,  and  as  she  could  not  pluck  it,  she 
stooped  over  and  tried  to  bite  it  off,  and  she  called  out  to  her  com- 
panions, who  also  tried  to  pluck  it  but  could  not.  So  they  determined 
to  cut  it  off  and  take  it  home,  and  began  to  hunt  for  a  sharp  piece 
of  flint,  and  on  their  return  to  the  strawberry  bush  the  strawberry 
had  disappeared,  and  they  then  declared  it  to  have  been  Old  Man 
Coyote  who  had  done  this.  They  then  agreed  to  retaliate  and  watched 
Old  Man  Coyote  all  the  time,  until  one  day  they  saw  him  coming 
through  the  woods,  and  they  quickly  disrobed  and  made  their  noses 
bleed  by  hitting  themselves,  and  took  the  blood  and  smeared  it  over 
their  bodies  to  make  it  appear  as  though  they  had  been  murdered,  and 
laid  themselves  down  on  the  grass,  all  spread  out ;  and  in  this  manner 
Old  Man  Coyote  soon  found  them  and  exclaimed,  "How  came  they* 
here,  these  pretty  things!"  and  then  went  over  and  touched  their 
breasts  and  felt  all  over  them  and  put  his  hand  over  their  persons,  to 
find  by  smelling,  how  long  they  had  been  lying  there,  and  he  said, 
"They  must  have  been  dead  for  a  long  time,  because  they  smell  so 
badly."  Then  he  turned  away,  and  had  gone  but  a  short  distance 
when  the  women  got  up  and  laughingly  told  him  they  had  retaliated 
for  what  he  did  to  them. 


OCTOBER,  1903.      TRADITIONS  OF  THE  CROWS — SIMMS.  285 

4. — OLD  MAN  COYOTE  AND  THE  BEARS. 

One  day  Old  Man  Coyote  came  upon  some  Bears  playing  burying 
each  other,  and  when  they  got  a  certain  amount  of  dirt  upon  one,  this 
one  would  whistle  and  they  would  pull  him  out.  And  Old  Man  Coyote 
said,  "Try  me.''  So  they  buried  him  and  he  whistled  and  they  pulled 
him  out.  Then  the  Bears  said,  "We  will  try  it,  and  you  pull  us  out." 
So  Old  Man  Coyote  made  a  big  pit  and  a  place  for  a  fire,  gathered 
some  rocks,  carried  some  water,  and  after  putting  the  bears  in  the  pit, 
he  covered  them  up  and  built  a  big  fire  in  which  he  placed  the  rocks. 
The  Bears  whistled,  but  Old  Man  Coyote  told  them  to  stay  in  there. 
He  poured  water  on  the  heated  rocks,  cooked  the  bears  and  ate  them. 

5. — OLD  MAN  COYOTE  AND  THE  BUFFALO. 

Once  when  Old  Man  Coyote  saw  some  buffalo,  he  wanted  to  eat 
them  and  tried  to  think  of  a  scheme  to  do  this. 

He  approached  the  buffalo  and  said  to  them:  "You  buffalo  are. 
the  most  awkward  of  all  animals, — your  heads  are  heavy,  your  hairy 
legs  are  chopped  off  short  and  your  bellies  stick  out  like  a  big  pot." 
The  buffalo  said  to  him,  "We  were  made  this  way.'' 

Old  Man  Coyote  said  to  them :  "I'll  tell  you  what  let's  do — we  will 
run  a  race" — and  all  went  to  a  level  place  with  a  steep  cut  bank  at  one 
end.  Old  Man  Coyote  said  to  himself,  "I  will  go  and  put  my  robe  over 
the  edge  of  the  bank,"  and  turning  to  the  buffalo,  he  said,  "Just  as  we 
get  to  the  place  where  my  robe  is  we  will  all  shut  our  eyes  and  see  how 
far  we  can  go  with  our  eyes  closed."  The  race  was  started,  and  just 
before  getting  to  the  robe,  all  of  the  buffalo  shut  their  eyes  and  jumped 
over  the  steep  cut  bank  and  were  killed ;  and  OM  Man  Coyote  feasted 
off  of  the  dead  buffalo. 

6. — OLD  MAN  COYOTE  AND  THE  FOUR  MEN,  FAT,  GREASE  AND  BERRIES. 

Once  upon  a  time  Coyote  met  four  men  walking  and  every  part  of 
their  bodies  was  made  of  fat,  grease  and  all  kinds  of  berries,  fruits, 
etc.  Before  the  four  men  saw  him,  he  transformed  his  body  into  that 
of  a  poor  dog,  and  he  got  in  front  of  them,  when  they  came  nearer, 
so  they  would  have  pity  on  him,  and  they  patted  his  head  while  he 
licked  them  to  get  the  grease  of  which  they  were  made.  They  passed 
and  went  on  their  way  and  Old  Man  Coyote  went  over  the  hill  and  got 
in  front  of  them  again.  This  time  he  had  transformed  himself  into  a 
larger  dog  than  the  previous  one,  and  he  licked  them  again  and  occa- 


286        FIELD  COLUMBIAN  MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  II. 

sionally  bit  small  pieces  off  of  them.  Again  they  passed  on  and  he  met 
them  again,  a  still  larger  dog,  and  bit  larger  pieces.  The  fourth  time, 
he  met  them  and  bit  still  larger  pieces,  and  then  they  discovered  it  to 
be  Old  Man  Coyote;  so  they  began  to  run.  Old  Man  Coyote  took  a 
young  sapling  and  knocked  them  down  in  an  old  lake  bed,  and  they  all 
melted  into  a  soup. 

As  Old  Man  Coyote  started  to  drink  up  the  soup,  he  called  to  his 
partner  to  come,  and  when  his  partner  came,  he  said,  "Now  you  go 
after  my  spoon"  (which  was  the  tail  of  the  lynx).  His  partner  started 
for  the  spoon  and  shortly  returned,  claiming  that  his  moccasins  were 
worn  out  on  the  bottom.  So  Old  Man  Coyote  fitted  him  out  in  raw- 
hide moccasins,  but  his  partner  after  going  but  a  short  distance  took  a 
sharp  piece  of  rock  and  made  holes  in  the  soles,  returned  again,  and 
again  complained  of  his  moccasins.  Again  he  was  fitted  out,  this 
time  with  stone  sole  moccasins.  These  he  smashed  on  the  rocks  and 
again  returned  and  complained.  Old  Man  Coyote  said,  "You  stay  here, 
— you  know  nothing — and  when  I  reach  the  top  of  the  hill,  you  dip 
your  hand  in  the  soup  and  lick  it  for  me.  When  Old  Man  Coyote 
went  over  the  first  hill  for  his  spoon,  his  partner  drank  a  lot  of  the 
soup,  and  when  the  last  hill  was  reached  by  Old  Man  Coyote,  the 
partner  had  drank  the  last  of  the  soup  and  then  ran  away.  When  Old 
Man  Coyote  came  back  with  the  spoon,  the  lake  of  soup  was  cleaned. 

Coyote  tracked  his  partner  by  following  the  grease  spots  and  found 
him  asleep  under  a  big  shade  tree  with  his  rectum  protruding.  Old 
Man  Coyote  took  a  sharp  pointed  stick  and  pushed  it  through  his 
partner's  rectum  into  the  ground.  Then  he  took  some  sticks  and  built 
a  prairie  fire  to  the  windward  of  his  sleeping  partner.  Old  Man 
Coyote  shouted  that  the  prairie  was  on  fire  and  the  sleeping  partner 
was  quickly  aroused  and  dashed  away  to  save  being  destroyed  by  the 
fire.  As  he  ran,  his  intestines  became  unravelled  and  stretched  out 
across  the  country.  Old  Man  Coyote  took  the  end  of  the  rectum-  which 
was  pinned  to  the  ground  and  began  to  suck  out  the  soup.  He  kept  on 
sucking  until  all  the  soup  had  been  taken;  but  he  insisted  that  there 
must  be  more  of  it,  and  continued  sucking,  which  caused  Old  Man 
Coyote  to  vomit  all  the  soup. 


7. — OLD  MAN  COYOTE  AND  THE  GOOSEBERRY  BUSHES. 

One  day  when  Old  Man  Coyote  was  walking  along  the  river,  he 
stopped  at  some  Gooseberry  bushes  and  enquired  of  them  their  name. 
The  Gooseberry  said,  "We  have  but  one  name,  and  you  have  just  called 


OCTOBER,  1903.     TRADITIONS  OF  THE  CROWS — SIMMS.  287 

it."  Old  Man  Coyote  said,  "I  dare  you  to  make  me  itch !"  and  he  then 
ate  lots  of  them,  took  lots  of  them  and  rubbed  them  over  his  body  and 
under  his  armpits,  and  shortly  after  was  itching  under  the  arms  and  all 
over.  He  scratched  and  rubbed  against  big  bushes  and  knocked  them 
over,  and  against  rocks,  until  he  was  bleeding  all  over.  * 

8. — OLD  MAX  COYOTE  AND  THE  INDIAN  TURNIP. 

Old  Man  Coyote  asked  an  Indian  Turnip,  as  he  did  the  Gooseberry, 
what  was  its  name,  and  the  Indian  Turnip  told  him,  and  said,  "We 
make  people  break  wind  when  they  eat  us.''  Not  believing  this,  he  ate 
lots  of  them,  and  walked  along  and  began  to  break  wind  and  his  heels 
raised  up,  and  another  break  raised  him  off  the  ground,  and  as  he  re- 
peated breaking  wind,  he  went  higher  in  the  air,  and  took  the  bushes, 
rocks,  etc.,  with  him  in  the  air.  He  pulled  up  big  trees,  until  he  reached 
a  birch  tree,  and  instead  of  pulling  this  up  by  the  roots  he  would  go 
from  the  limits,  from  the  roots  to  the  top  and  fall  to  the  ground  again, 
yelling  each  time  he  fell. 

9. — OLD  MAN  COYOTE  AND  THE  BEAVERS. 

Once  upon  a  time  Old  Man  Coyote  came  to  a  beaver  dam  and  tak- 
ing a  stick  a  beaver  had  cut,  stuck  it  through  his  body  as  though  by 
some  force.  The  mother  Beaver  found  him  there  and  took  him  to  her 
home  and  was  going  to  raise  Old  Man  Coyote. 

One  day  she  told  him  to  watch  his  sisters,  the  little  beavers.  He  cut 
off  their  heads  and  burned  them  on  each  side  of  the  mouth  and  stuck 
the  heads  where  they  generally  slept ;  the  remainder  of  them  he  ate. 

When  the  mother  Beaver  found  out  it  was  Old  Man  Coyote,  she 
told  him  never  to  drink  from  any  water  on  his  hands  and  knees ;  and 
that  if  he  did,  he  would  have  a  sad  mishap.  Old  Man  Coyote  several 
times  came  near  drinking  on  his  hands  and  knees,  but  one  day  he 
absolutely  forgot  it,  and  the  Beaver  bit  his  nose  off.  He  made  a  good 
nose  out  of  mud,  and  every  time  he  went  into  a  house  and  took  a  baby 
in  his  arms,  the  baby  knocked  his  nose  off ;  so  he  made  a  nose  of 
fruit  pits,  and  it  stayed  that  way. 

10. — OLD  MAN  COYOTE,  THE  WOLF,  AND  THE  HOLES  IN  THE  ICE. 

One  day  Old  Man  Coyote  came  to  a  Wolf  that  had  tied  a  rock  to 
the  end  of  his  tail.  As  the  Wolf  trotted  over  the  ice,  the  rock  would 
Hit  the  ice  and  make  holes  in  it,  and  the  fat  of  the  buffalo  would  stick 
up  through  the  holes. 


288        FIELD  COLUMBIAN  MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  II. 

Old  Man  Coyote  promised  the  Wolf  his  throwing  stick  with  buffalo 
horn  on  the  end  if  he  would  show  him  how  to  make  holes  in  the  ice 
with  fat  sticking  through  the  holes.  The  Wolf  accepted  the  offer  and 
'Old  Man  Coyote  tied  a  rock  to  the  corner  of  his  robe  and  trotted  over 
the  ice,  making  holes  in  it  with  the  fat  sticking  out  of  them.  He  ate 
all  that  he  could,  and  then  took  his  horn-tipped  throwing  stick  away 
from  the  Wolf  and  ran  off.  The  Wolf  cried  out  to. him  not  to  try  to 
walk  on  the  ice  again  as  before,  but  Old  Man  Coyote  tried  to  walk  over 
the  ice  and  make  holes,  but  he  slipped  and  fell  on  the  ice,  and  his  rump 
stuck  fast  to  the  ice,  under  the  overhanging  branches  of  the  buffalo 
and  gooseberry  bushes  that  were  laden  with  the  berries.  Old  Man 
Coyote  reached  for  a  branch  that  he  broke  off,  and  with  it  began  to 
thresh  the  bushes,  until  all  the  berries  were  on  the  ice  surrounding  him. 

Coyote  then  called  for  all  living  animals  of  the  earth  to  com^ 
around  him,  and  when  they  came,  he  said:  "I  am  going  to  make  a 
big  feast.  Here  are  all  these  berries ;  and  when  I  sing,  all  of  you  are 
to  come  and  dance  under  me,  so  that  I  can  get  off  the  ice."  And  as  he 
began  to  sing,  they  all  danced  around  and  under  him,  until  he  was  ' 
almost  free,  when  he  said  to  the  beaver,  "Get  me  a  large  drum  stick." 
By  the  time  the  beaver  returned  with  the  drum  stick  he  was  free.  He 
then  said  to  all,  "When  I  sing  my  last  song  you  must  shut  your  eyes 
and  dance."  They  did  as  he  instructed,  and  Old  Man  Coyote  with  his 
drum  stick  killed  most  of  them  and  those  that  were  not  killed  scam- 
pered away.  Old  Man  Coyote  enjoyed  another  feast. 


ii. — OLD  MAN  COYOTE,  BALD-HEAD  EAGLE  AND  HIS  ILLEGITIMATE 
OFFSPRING,  THE  THUNDER-BIRD,  AND  THE  MORNING  STAR. 

£)nce  upon  a  time  Old  Man  Coyote  started  towards  the  mountains, 
when  he  saw  a  Bald-Head  Eagle  and  his  wife.  Old  Man  Coyote  thought 
it  would  be  a  good  joke  to  have  the  Thunder-Bird  come  and  live  with 
the  wife  of  the  Bald-Head  Eagle  and  have  an  illegitimate  offspring. 
So  the  Thunder-Bird  came  and  lived  with  the  wife  of  the  Bald-Head 
Eagle,  and  in  time  an  offspring  was  born  to  them  of  the  form  and 
appearance  of  a  young  eagle. 

At  this  time  there  were  two  men  of  the  earth,  one  was  given  power 
by  the  Morning  Star,  and  the  other  was  left  without  any  power  at  all, 
and  this  one  travelled  to  the  nest  of  the  offspring  to  get  all  of  his  (the 
offspring's)  power,  which  he  obtained,  and  shortly  afterwards  be- 
came rich.  The  one  who  was  given  power  by  the  Morning  Star  saw 
that  the  other  one  was  surpassing  him  in  power  and  wealth ;  so  he  made 


OCTOBER,  1903.      TRADITIONS  OF  THE  CROWS — SIMMS.  289 

a  charm  (medicine),  a  little  red  feather,  and  with  it  shot  the  one  that 
was  given  power  by  the  offspring  in  the  heart,  and  killed  him. 

To  find  out  who  killed  the  man  to  whom  he  had  given  the  power, 
the  eagle  flew  up  in  the  air  and  collided  with  the  body  of  the  dead 
man,  and  the  red  feather,  which  was  still  sticking  in  his  heart,  came 
out.  The  offspring  then  knew  that  the  man  was  killed  by  the  one  to 
whom  the  Morning  Star  had  given  power. 

The  body  of  the  dead  man  and  the  offspring  prepared  for  war  upon 
the  Morning  Star  and  they  made  a  big  storm  with  thunder  and  light- 
ning, which  worried  the  Morning  Star  considerably ;  and  it  came  to 
Old  Man  Coyote  and  asked  him  for  advice.  Old  Man  Coyote  said, 
"Those  people,  Thunder  and  Bald-Head  Eagle,  are  mean  people  when 
started,  so  you  had  better  get  out  of  the  wav,  or  change  the  existence  of 
the  two  men'' ;  which  the  Morning  Star  did. 


12. — OLD  MAN  COYOTE,  THE  MAN  AND  Cow  BUFFALO  AND  Cow  ELK. 

v  Old  Man  Coyote  met  one  day  a  man  carrying  a  bow  and  a  quiver  of 
arrows,  roaming  all  over  the  world.  Old  Man  Coyote  said  to  him, 
"Come  here,  and  I  will  show  you  something  you  will  like/'  He  took 
the  man  to  the  buffalo  cow,  stuck  fast  in  the  mud,  and  Old  Man  Coyote 
told  him  to  have  connection  with  this  buffalo,  which  the  man  did. 
Afterwards,  Old  Man  Coyote  took  the  man  to  another  place  where  a 
cow  elk  was  mired,  and  the  man  was  told  to  do  as  he  had  done  with 
the  buffalo  cow,  which  he  did,  and  the  Old  Man  Coyote  laughed  at 
him.  In  the  course  of  several  weeks  the  buffalo  cow  and  elk  cow  each 
gave  birth  to  a  boy. 

Shortly  after  his  meeting  with  Old  Man  Coyote,  the  wandering  man 
returned  to  his  people.  One  day  he  was  playing  a  game  of  ring  and 
arrows.  While  playing,  he  was  approached  by  a  little  boy  with  a  short 
neck  and  curly  hair,  and  who  had  on  a  buffalo  calf  robe.  The  little 
boy  said  to  him,  "Father,  if  you  win  anything,  give  me  some."  The 
man  looked  about  him  and  said,  "I  will."  Shortly  afterward  another 
little  boy,  with  lighter  hair  and  longer  neck,  approached  and  asked 
him  the  same  question.  When  the  man  had  finished  playing  he  called 
the  two  boys  to  him  and  said,  "How  is  it  you  call  me  father?"  Each 
of  the  boys  said,  "Don't  you  remember  the  time  when  our  mothers  were 
stuck  in  the  mud  ?''  The  man  said  he  did.  He  told  each  of  the  boys 
to  go  and  bring  his  mother  to  him,  which  they  did,  but  in  the  forms 
of  women. 

After  looking  carefully  at  each,  the  man  did  not  care  for  the  elk 


290        FIELD  COLUMBIAN  MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  II. 

woman,  but  lived  with  the  buffalo  woman,  who  said:  "I  will  live 
with  you  only  under  the  condition  that  you  do  not  call  me  harsh  names. 
You  may  strike  me."  The  man  promised,  and  lived  with  her  for  some 
time,  but  one  day  he  was  vexed  at  something  she  did,  and  he  broke  his 
promise,  and  pronounced  a  forbidden  word.  She  quickly  transformed 
herself  into  a  buffalo  cow  and  her  child  turned  into  a  buffalo  calf. 

The  man  tried  to  catch  them.  After  many  days  of  chasing  them  he 
came  upon  a  big  herd  of  buffalo,  and  as  he  was  sitting  on  a  hill  looking 
at  them,  a  little  buffalo  calf  came  silently  uo  to  him  and  said :  "Father, 
my  uncles  are  going  to  try  you  by  placing  all  the  calves  of  my  age  in  a 
circle  facing  the  center,  and  you  are  to  be  in  the  center,  and  you  are 
to  pick  me  out  of  the  number.  If  you  fail,  my  uncles  are  going  to  gore 
you  to  death;  but  I  will  give  you  a  signal  when  you  approach  me  by 
twitching  my  left  ear.  They  also  want  you  to  find  my  mother  by  pick- 
ing her  out  of  a  circle.  I  will  go  and  lick  some  white  clay  and  will  act 
as  though  I  were  going  to  nurse,  and  will  rub  the  white  clay  on  her 
left  shoulder,  so  that  you  may  know  her  when  you  come  to  her." 

The  buffalo  had  a  big  dance,  and  then  told  the  man  if  he  were 
unable  to  point  out  his  wife  and  child  they  would  gore  him  to  death. 
After  forming  the  circles  of  cows  and  calves,  the  man  picked  out  his 
wife  and  child,  which  angered  the  buffalo  uncles  of  the  child,  and 
they  started  to  gore  him  to  death. 

While  the  man  was  on  his  way  trying  to  find  his  wife  and  child, 
he  met  Old  Man  Coyote,  who  instructed  him  to  place  a  long  thin  piece 
of  buffalo  sinew  and  a  breath  feather  of  the  eagle  on  the  top  of  his 
head,  that  it  might  revolve  when  dancing. 

When  the  buffalo  went  to  gore  him  the  feather  rose  in  the  air  and 
as  his  being  was  in  the  feather,  there  was  no  one  in  the  center  of  the 
circle ;  they  gored  each  other,  breaking  legs  and  shoulders ;  and  they 
did  this  repeatedly,  until  at  last  they  abandoned  it,  saying  that  his  medi- 
cine was  stronger  than  theirs,  and  they  let  him  have  his  wife  and  child 
to  take  back  to  his  camp. 

13. — OLD  MAN  COYOTE  AND  THE  INFANT  WHO  WAS  ADOPTED  BY  THE 

BUFFALO. 

Long  time  ago  there  lived  a  chief  with  his  wife  and  a  very  beautiful 
daughter,  whom  .all  the  young  men  of  the  tribe  wanted  to  marry.  But 
the  chief  would  not  give  his  consent. 

One  day  it  became  known  that  the  daughter  was  to  become  a 
mother.  Her  parents  decided  to  take  her  to  a  place  where  she  could 


OCTOBER,  1903.     TRADITIONS  OF  THE  CROWS — SIMMS.  291 

be  confined  unseen  by  any  one.  The  mother  inquired  of  the  daughter 
who  the  father  was,  and  the  daughter  said,  "It  is  your  husband,  my 
father,  who  is  the  father  of  the  child."  When  the  child  (a  boy)  was 
born,  they  threw  the  body  into  a  buffalo  wallow.  Shortly  afterwards, 
seven  buffalo  bulls  led  by  an  old  one,  came  up  to  the  place  to  wallow. 
When  the  leader  heard  the  baby,  he  stopped.  One  of  the  bulls  said, 
"Why  do  you  stop ;  we  want  to  go  to  the  north,  and  it  is  a  long  way." 
The  leader  replied,  "There  is  a  human  being  in  that  wallow  and  I  am 
thinking  whether  to  give  him  our  power  and  raise  him  or  pass  on  our 
way."  One  of  the  bulls,  a  rough  one,  said,  "Let  us  raise  him."  The 
leader  agreed,  then  backed  away  a  short  distance  and  ran  up  to 
the  baby  and  tossed  it  in  the  air,  and  when  it  came  down,  it  sat  up. 
Another  bull  ran  to  the  baby  and  tossed  it  in  the  air,  and  when  it  came 
down  it  was  standing  up.  The  third  bull  tossed  the  baby  up,  and  it 
lighted  on  both  feet  and  walked.  The  fourth  tossed  the  baby  up  and 
it  again  came  down  landing  on  its  feet  and  ran.  "That  is  enough," 
said  the  leader,  so  they  placed  the  baby  on  the  neck  of  one,  amidst  the 
thickest  of  the  hair,  and  covered  the  body  with  it  and  continued  on 
their  journey  to  the  north.  In  course  of  time,  the  buffalo  taught  the 
boy  considerable  of  the  animal  ways,  such  as  hunting  pastures,  water, 
etc. 

Of  his  own  accord,  he  made  a  bow  and  several  arrows.  The 
buffalo  learned  to  love  the  boy  devotedly  and  one  day  the  seven  bulls 
had  a  council,  and  the  leader  said,  "Our  boy  has  arrived  at  a  marriage- 
able age,  and  let  us  ask  him  his  wishes  as  to  a  wife."  They  asked 
him,  and  he  said,  "I  will  marry  one  of  my  own  people."  So  they  pre- 
pared him  for  the  journey  home  to  his  people,  and  instructed  him  in 
every  way.  They  gave  him  a  stuffed  hawk  and  tied  it  to  his  scalp  lock 
near  the  head  and  then  gave  him  a  long  bow  and  wearing  apparel. 

As  he  was  walking  along,  he  overtook  Old  Man  Coyote  who  said 
to  him,  "Young  man,  where  are  you  going?"  "I  am  going  back  to 
marry  one  of  the  chief's  daughters/'  was  the  reply.  "And  I  am  going 
to  do  the  same  thing,  and  will  walk  along  with  you/'  said  Old  Man 
Coyote. 

There  was  a  pit  a  little  further  on,  which  Old  Man  Coyote  knew  of, 
into  which  he  pushed  his  companion.  Old  Man  Coyote  said  to  him, 
"If  you  will  give  me  that  long  bow,  I  will  pull  you  out."  And  after 
the  bow  had  been  given  him,  Old  Man  Coyote  said,  "Now  give  me  that 
hawk  and  I  will  surely  pull  you  out."  The  hawk  was  thrown  out  to 
him,  which  Old  Man  Coyote  took,  then  left  the  young  man  in  the  pit. 

Fortunately  the  pit  was  not  far  from  the  camp,  so  that  an  old  wo- 


292        FIELD  COLUMBIAN  MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  II. 

man  who  was  gathering  wood  heard  a  baby  crying  in  the  pit  (the 
young  man  had  been  transformed  into  a  baby).  The  old  woman  soon 
procured  a  rope  and  with  it,  got  the  baby  out  and  took  it.  She  inquired 
where  its  tipi  was,  and  the  baby  said,  "Grandmother,  I  have  no  tipi." 
The  old  woman  said :  "I  will  raise  you.  I  have  two  grandsons  you 
can  play  with." 

The  baby  grew  very  rapidly  and  in  a  short  time  was  as  large  as  his 
foster  brothers. 

Once  when  the  camp  was  in  great  need  of  meat  the  boy  said  to  his 
grandmother,  "Give  me  some  buffalo  hide  to  make  hoops."  After  they 
had  been  made,  he  said  to  his  foster  brothers,  "Let's  have  a  game  of 
hoops/'  He  then  said  to  his  brother,  "Stand  by  the  door  of  the  tipi 
and  roll  the  hoop  to  me,  and  when  you  roll  it,  make  a  wish  for  any  kind 
of  buffalo, — bull,  cow  or  calf."  So  the  boy  took  the  hoop  and  rolled 
it  and  said,  "Here  goes  a  young  bull."  The  boy  drew  his  bow  and 
shot  an  arrow  at  the  hoop,  hitting  it  in  the  center,  and  when  the  hoop 
turned  over,  it  was  a  young  fat  buffalo  bull. 

The  grandmother  who  was  outside  the  tipi  at  the  time,  heard  the 
glad  shoutings  of  her  grandchildren  inside  the  tipi,  and  hurried  in  to 
see  the  cause  of  it.  When  she  saw  what  it  was,  she  closed  -the  tipi 
door  and  butchered  the  buffalo  and  afterwards  inquired  all  about  it 
of  her  own  grandchildren.  The  grandchildren  said,  "We  have  a  won- 
derful little  brother,"  and  told  the  grandmother  all.  She  then  wanted 
to  see  him  do  it  herself.  He  did  it  for  his  grandmother  and  this  time 
an  old  fat  bull  was  killed.  This  was  butchered  as  before,  but' she  saved 
the  blood,  which  turned  to  red  paint. 

One  day  the  boy  saw  a  number  of  young  men  passing  the  tipi  and 
inquired  of  his  grandmother  where  they  were  going,  and  she  informed 
him  that  there  was  a  pretty  red  bird,  and  the  chief  desired  to  have  it, 
and  he  offered  his  daughter  to  any  one  getting  the  bird.  The  boy 
determined  that  he  too  would  try  and  get  the  bird.  He  accompanied 
the  young  men,  and  soon  killed  the  red  bird  and  as  he  was  returning 
with  it.  Old  Man  Coyote  approached  him  and  said,  "Did  you  kill  it?'' 
"Of  course  I  did,"  replied  the  boy.  "Let  me  see  it,"  said  Old  Man 
Coyote.  When  the  boy  showed  it  to  him,  he  snatched  it  and  ran  off 
with  it. 

Shortly  afterwards  the  boy  again  saw  more  young  men  passing 
the  tipi  and  inquired  where  they  were  going.  His  grandmother  said, 
"There  is  a  red  fox  which  the  chief  wants  very  much  to  have,  and  will 
give  his  daughter  in  marriage  to  any  one  for  its  pelt." 

The  boy  made  a  trap  to  catch  the  fox  and  succeeded  in  so  doing, 


OCTOBER,  1903.      TRADITIONS  OF  THE  CROWS — SIMMS.  293 

and  on  his  way  home  with  it,  he  again  met  Old  Man  Coyote,  who  asked, 
''Did  you  catch  the  red  fox?"  "Of  course  I  did,"  replied  the  boy. 
"Let  me  see  it,"  said  Old  Man  Coyote.  When  the  boy  showed  it  to 
him  he  took  it,  and  off  he  ran. 

The  boy,  on  reaching  home,  told  his  grandmother  what  Old  Man 
Coyote  had  clone,  and  said  to  her,  "Go  and  get  a  feather  from  the  red 
bird,  and  some  hair  from  the  fox  and  bring  them  to  me."  The  grand- 
mother found  Old  Man  Coyote,  and  as  she  was  also  cute  and  sly  and 
praised  the  Old  Man  Coyote  for  getting  the  bird  and  the  fox,  Old  Man 
Coyote  became  pleased  with  the  flattery,  and  showed  the  bird  and  fox 
to  the  grandmother,  who  (unseen  by  Old  Man  Coyote)  plucked  a 
feather  from  the  bird  and  some  hair  from  the  fox,  and  took  them  home 
to  her  grandson,  who  told  her  to  tie  them  together  and  put  them  behind 
the  tipi  ctirtain  until  it  was  time  to  show  the  chief  the  red  bird  and  the 
red  fox. 

The  boy  told  his  grandmother  to  go  and  tell  the  chief  that  he  was 
coming  to  claim  his  daughter.  The  grandmother  took  meat  to  the 
chiefs  tipi  and  told  the  chief  that  her  grandchild 'had  killed  the  red 
bird  and  the  red  fox  and  wanted  to  marry  his  daughter.  At  that  time 
the  camp  was  out  of  meat  and  the  meat  the  grandmother  brought 
greatly  satisfied  him,  and  he  consented  to  the  marriage. 

The  grandmother  told  the  chief  that  everything  was  in  readiness 
for  the  wedding,  and  that  her  grandson  would  come  four  times  and 
that  he  must  have  his  daughter  catch  him  one  of  the  times  he  came, 
and  have  it  announced  that  no  one  was  to  look  out  of  their  tipis  when 
he  came.  They  heard  the  dogs  barking  and  the  grandmother  said,  "He 
is  coming  now,  and  just  then  a  little  buffalo  calf  came  in  bellowing 
at  the  daughter  and  acting  as  though  he  would  butt  her.  She  lost 
courage,  fell  back  and  failed  to  catch  her  lover,  the  buffalo  calf,  which 
ran  out  of  the  tipi. 

Another  day  the  grandmother  took  pemmican  and  spare  ribs  of 
buffalo  and  told  the  chief  to  tell  his  daughter  to  catch  her  intended 
husband  when  he  came  the  next  time,  which  was  in  the  evening,  and 
this  time  he  came  as  a  yearling  buffalo  bull,  chasing  the  dogs  and 
causing  an  uproar  as  he  came  along.  He  broke  the  fastening  pins  of 
the  tipi  as  he  entered.  The  daughter  was  sitting  awaiting  his  arrival  to 
seize  him,  but  again  she  lost  courage  and  fell  back  and  again  the  lover 
ran  out.  The  third  time  he  came,  he  was  a  two  year  old  bull,  and  had 
all  the  appearances  of  a  dangerous  bull.  He  entered  the  tipi,  breaking 
the  flaps  and  fastening  pins  and  the  daughter  stood  up  to  catch  him 
as  he  was  coming  towards  her  as  if  to  butt  her.  This  time  she  shut 


294        FIELD  COLUMBIAN  MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  II. 

her  eyes  and  grabbed  the  bull  about  the  neck,  and  as  both  came  to- 
gether the  bull  was  transformed  into  a  young  man. 

This  same  chief  had  another  daughter,  older  than  the  one  just 
married  and  not  as  pretty  as  she.  After  transferring  the  red  bird 
and  red  fox  to  the  chief,  the  young  man  and  the  pretty  daughter  were 
married. 

Old  Man  Coyote,  not  knowing  that  the  daughter  had  been  married, 
brought  his  bag  containing  what  he  supposed  was  the  red  bird  and  the 
pelt  of  the  red  fox,  and  presented  the  bag  to  the  chief  with  an  air 
of  confidence  of  securing  his  daughter ;  but  when  the  sack  was  opened 
it  contained  a  buzzard  and  a  gray  wolf. 

The  chief  took  pity  on  Old  Man  Coyote  and  gave  his  homely  daugh- 
ter to  him. 

After  the  two  couples  had  been  married  the  young  man  said  there 
would  be  plenty  of  buffalo  near  by  so  that  a  big  hunt  could  be  had. 
The  camp  was  moved  to  the  bank  of  a  big  river,  where  all  went  swim- 
ming. When  the  young  man  went  in  to  swim,  he  was  transformed  into 
a  buffalo  bull  and  would  then  let  his  wife  grasp  his  horns  and  take  her 
across  the  river  and  back  again  upon  his  back. 

Old  Man  Coyote  saw  this  done,  and  said,  "That  is  nothing  fo  do ; 
I  can  do  that  too."  He  started  to  transform  himself  into  a  buffalo  bull, 
but  he  was  nothing  but  a  plain  gray  wolf  and  when  his  wife  grabbed 
him  by  the  tail  and  swam  a  little  way  with  him,  the  people  on  the  bank 
began  to  laugh  and  shout  at  him.  Both  of  them  went  beneath  the  sur- 
face of  the  water  several  times  .and  came  near  drowning.  He  then 
hit  his  wife  on  the  arm  to  loosen  her  hold  on  his  tail,  which  she  did, 
and  then  he  ran  away  as  soon  as  he  reached  the  shore. 

The  young  man  was  becoming  very  popular  and  well  liked,  and  the 
people  wondered  where  he  came  from,  and  who  his  parents  were.  He 
said  to  them  one  day,  "I  will  tell  who  my  mother  is  and  who  I  am, 
if  all  the  women  will  dress  themselves  in  their  best  clothing  and  stand 
in  a  row."  The  women  did  so,  and  he  looked  at  them  all  and  he 
pointed  out  his  mother,  who  asked  him  where  he  was  born,  and  he  told 
her  the  circumstances  of  his  birth,  and  when  he  was  thrown  in  the 
wallow,  and  she  told  him  never  to  say  anything  in  reference  to  his 
father. 


OCTOBER,  1903.     TRADITIONS  OF  THE  CROWS— SIMMS.  295 

14. — OLD  MAN  COYOTE,  THE  GIANTS  AND  THEIR  LITTLE  ENEMIES. 

Once  upon  a  time  the  people  of  the  earth  were  very  hungry  for  buf- 
falo meat,  so  three  young  men  started  to  hunt  buffalo  and  saw  two 
trails  of  the  buffalo  coming  together  in  one  common  trail,  which  was 
deeply  worn  and  covered  with  buffalo  manure.  This  trail  terminated 
in  a  big  hole  in  the  side  of  the  mountain. 

The  three  young  men  were  very  tired  from  travelling  and  slept 
four  nights  in  the  hole  in  the  mountain.  After  walking  four  days  in 
the  mountain  hole,  they  saw  light  at  the  opposite  end  of  the  hole,  which 
grew  lighter  and  lighter  as  they  neared  the  opening. .  When  they  had 
reached  the  light,  they  saw  that  they  had  come  out  into  another  world, 
where  the  people  were  tall  and  large,  and  where  there  were  plenty 
of  buffalo. 

When  the  three  young  men  came  out,  the  people  of  the  other  world 
came  toward  them,  and  among  them  was  Old  Man  Coyote,  who  said 
to  the  three  young  men :  "You  ask  for  some  of  their  horses,  for  their 
horses  are  buffalo."  The  people  did  not  come  very  close  to  the  three 
young  men,  fearing  that  they  might  step  on  the  three  young  men  and 
kill  them.  The  big  people  asked  them,  ''What  do  you  eat?"  The  three 
young  men  said,  "We  eat  your  horses/'  The  big  people  said,  "You 
may  take  the  horses  you  like  the  best  and  cat  them." 

The  three  young  men  selected  and  killed  a  fat  buffalo  and  while 
the  three  young  men  were  cooking  the  buffalo,  the  big  people  stood 
away  off;  for  they  did  not  like  the  odor  of  cooking  meat.  The  big 
people  were  very  kind  to  the  three  young  men  and  told  them  to  re- 
main as  long  as  they  wanted  and  eat  whenever  they  were  hungry. 

After  the  three  young  men  had  finished  eating,  the  big  people  told 
them  that  their  (the  big  people's)  enemies  were  coming  the  next  day, 
and  the  big  people  went  into  their  tipis,  made  of  the  hides  of  buffalo. 
The  big  people  were  afraid  the  three  young  men  would  be  harmed, 
and  so  put  them  safely  away.  The  three  young  men  thought  that  the 
enemies  of  the  big  people  were  much  larger  than  the  big  people  and 
would  be  much  more  powerful. 

When  evening  came,  and  all  the  people  had  gone  into  their  tipis, 
the  enemies  came,  and  they  were  mosquitoes,  ants,  and  bugs  of  every 
description,  also  rabbits,  prairie  dogs,  and  other  small  animals,  as  well 
as  small  birds.  When  one  of  the  big  people  thrust  his  head  out  from 
the  tipi  the  mosquitoes  would  sting  him,  and  he  would  fall  like  dead. 

The  three  young  men  could  not  see  what  was  going  on  and  one  of 
them  said :  "I  am  going  out  and  see  what  their  enemies  are  like.  We 


296        FIELD  COLUMBIAN  MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  II. 

hear  no  shooting  or  loud  noises."  So  he  put  his  head  out  of  the  tipi 
and  saw  all  the  small  animals,  birds  and  insects  hopping  and  flying 
about,  and  he  called  to  his  two  companions,  ''The  enemies  are  little 
animals,  birds,  and  bugs ;  come  out,  and  let  us  kill  them  all."  And  the 
three  young  men  took  heavy  clubs  and  kicked  them  down,  killing 
a  great  many,  and  chased  the  living  things  off  from  the  camp.  When 
the  big  people  came  out  and  saw  what  the  three  young  men  had  done, 
tbey  were  very  thankful. 

The  people  asked  them,  "What  did  you  come  here  for?''  When 
the  three  young  men  told  them  that  their  people  were  without  meat  and 
that  they  had  come  for  some  buffalo,  the  big  people  told  them  to  drive 
as  many  as  they  wanted,  and  the  big  people  wanted  the  three  young 
men  to  stay  with  them;  for  they  had  killed  and  driven  off  the  enemy. 
But  the  three  young  men  told  them  that  their  people  were  starving 
and  that  they  were  going  home  with  meat  for  them.  The  three  young 
men  began  to  drive  the  buffalo  into  the  hole  in  the  mountain  and  kept 
herds  after  herds  of  them  in  the  hole,  until  the  three  young  men  thought 
they  had  enough,  when  they  started  to  drive  the  buffalo  through  the 
hole  in  the  mountain.  While  driving  the  buffalo  through  the  hole, 
they  lay  down  four  times,  as  before,  and  slept 'and  when  they  reached 
the  end  of  the  hole,  the  buffalo  had  all  passed  out,  and  there  was  some- 
thing asleep  at  the  end  of  the  hole,  the  head  and  part  of  its  body  re- 
sembling an  alligator,  and  the  other  part  resembling  an  otter. 

The  three  young  men  gathered  a  lot  of  dried  buffalo  chips  and  put 
them  under  the  snake-like  thing  and  built  a  fire,  which  burned  through 
it  and  killed  it.  When  the  three  young  men  had  passed  out  of  the  hole, 
one  of  them  said,  "Let  me  eat  some  of  it.''  The  other  two  told  him  it 
might  not  be  good  food,  and  that  it  might  be  bad  medicine  and  do  him 
harm.  But  this  was  a  reckless  fellow  and  ate  some  of  it.  After  they 
had  travelled  all  day,  they  were  very  tired,  and  during  the  night,  when 
they  were  asleep,  the  one  who  ate  of  the  monster  they  had  killed, 
was  groaning,  as  if  in  great  pain,  and  towards  morning  called  to  his 
two  companions  that  he  felt  different.  He  then  fell  to  the  ground  and 
when  his  companions  reached  him  the  fur  of  the  otter  began  to  show  on 
his  body  and  it  began  to  grow  and  his  body  changed  shape,  until  it 
changed  to  a  long  otter. 

After  he  had  changed  to  a  long  otter  he  told  his  companions  that 
there  was  a  big  lake  near  by,  to  which  he  wanted  to  go ;  and  when  his 
companions  took  him  to  it  he  dived  under  and  came  up  to  the  surface. 
He  then  told  his  companions  that  they  might  go  home  and  tell  his 
people  what  had  happened;  that  whenever  they  should  go  on  the 


OCTOBER,  1903.     TRAPITIONS  OF  THE  CROWS — SIMMS.  297 

warpath  they  must  come  by  the  lake  and  see  him ;  that*  he  would  give 
them  power. 

When  the  two  reached  home,  and  told  all  about  their  friend,  his 
people  mourned  for  him.  The  young  men  said,  "Do  not  mourn  for 
him ;  he  is  not  dead,  but  living,  and  is  only  transformed." 

Whenever  the  two  remaining  young  men  went  to  the  lake  to  sec 
their  former  companion,  he  would  give  them  power,  and  they  were 
always  successful  in  war,  and  became  noted  chiefs. 


15. — OLD  MAN  COYOTE,  THE  YOUNG  MAN  AND  Two  OTTER  SISTERS. 

Once  upon  a  time  there  lived-  a  young  man  who  had  riches  as  well 
as  being  handsome. 

Old  Man  Coyote  said  to  him  one  day,  "You  had  better  get  married, 
and  1  will  find  you  a  suitable  wife."  One  winter  when  the  ice  was  all 
smooth  and  nice,  the  people  of  the  earth  were  sitting  on  buffalo  skulls 
(for  sledges),  while  the  young  men  pulled  them  over  the  ice. 

The  rich  and  handsome  young  man  came  to  this  place  and  saw  two 
beautiful  women  he  had  never  seen  before.  He  approached  them  and 
subsequently  pulled  them  over  the  ice  on  buffalo  skulls  until  late,  and 
after  all  the  other  people  had  gone  home.  These  two  beautiful  women 
proved  to  be  long  otters  with  fine  fur,  who  had  been  transformed  into 
young  and  beautiful  women  (sisters)  to  ensnare  a  husband.'  As  they 
were  nearing  an  air  hole,  one  of  them  threw  her  robe  over  the  head 
of  the  young  man,  while  the  other  sister  pushed,  so  that  all  three  of 
them  went  into  the  air  hole ;  and  when  he  came  to,  he  was  sitting  in  a 
tipi  under  the  water,  where  these  women  lived  with  their  people. 

While  he  was  lying  in  the  tipi  with  the  two  sisters  that  he  had 
married,  he  could  see  people  coming  for  water,  and  could  hear  the  camp 
criers  announcing  that  they  would  have  a  buffalo  hunt.  One  of  the 
wives  said :  "You  had  better  go  and  get  some  meat  for  us  and  our 
father."  He  went,  leading  a  string  of  horses  by  a  rope,  and  after 
a  successful  hunt,  he  loaded  the  horses  with  the  choicest  parts  of  the 
buffalo  and  took  them  to  his  wives  after  dark.  He  saw  them  sitting 
on  the  bank  waiting  for  him.  He  told  them  to  unload  the  horses, 
which  they  did,  and  they  dumped  the  meat  through  the  air  hole.  One 
of  the  wives  took  the  horses  to  where  his  other  horses  were,  and  they 
then  went  under  the  water  to  their  tipi  to  see  his  father-in-law,  a  large 
otter,  eat.  He  was  eating  marrow,  bones  and  all. 

The  following  day,  the  husband  of  the  two  sisters  went  to  his 
former  camp  and  people  and  told  the  chief  to  have  it  announced  that 


298        FIELD  COLUMBIAN  MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  II. 

he  was  married  to  two  women  otters  under  the  water;  also  to  have  it 
announced  that  his  father-in-law  never  got  enough  to  eat,  and  that  he 
would  like  to  have  the  whole  camp  go  buffalo  hunting  again,  which 
they  did,  with  instructions  to  leave  nothing  behind,  but  bring  every- 
thing, entrails  and  all. 

A  big  killing  was  made,  and  when  they  returned,  the  procession 
was  a  very  large  one.  The  horses  were  unloaded  of  the  results  of  the 
hunt  on  the  edge  of  the  air  hole,  until  it  reached  a  big  pile.  When  they 
had  put  all  the  meat  in  the  air  hole,  the  young  man  came  out.  and 
announced  that  his  father-in-law  and  the  friends  of  his  father-in-law 
would  come  and  have  a  feast,  and  that  when  they  did  come,  they  would 
break  up  the  ice,  so  that  they  had  better  camp  on  the  hills.  When  the 
otters  came,  they  broke  up  the  ice,  and  the  water  rushed  on  the  ice,  and 
high  on  the  banks,  but  the  people  were  safe.  Then  they  had  a  big  feast. 

Afterwards  the  camp  moved  away,  leaving  the  man  with  his  wives 
and  his  father-in-law.  His  father-in-law  told  him  to  plait  his  scalp 
lock  and  tie  the  ends  with  otter  skins,  and  whenever  hunting,  to  watch 
out  for  the  enemy,  for  they  were  watching  him,  and  that  when  they  came 
up  to  him  he  was  to  touch  his  scalp  lock  to  the  ground  and  he  would 
disappear  under  the  ground.  But  one  day  he  was  ambushed  by  his 
enemies  and  was  shot  all  over  with  arrows.  He  started  to  run,  not 
thinking  of  his  medicine  (the  otter  skin).  When  he  fell,  his  scalp  locks 
touched  the  ground  and  he  immediately  disappeared  under  the  ground, 
and  his  medicine  carried  him  home  to  his  wives  and  father-in-law, 
where  he  was  shortly  restored  to  health. 

His  father-in-law  said  to  him:  "You  have  lived  with  me  long 
enough.  You  must  want  to  see  your  people  now,  so  take  your  wives 
and  go  home  to  your  people."  Upon  his  return  to  his  people  he  was 
made  a  chief,  a  leader  in  war,  and  every  time  a  warrior  was  shot  he 
was  taken  to  the  water  and  with  his  medicine  cured. 

One  day  one  of  his  wives  went  home  and  the  otter  gave  birth  to  a 
boy  child.  This  one  -said  to  him :  "Don't  call  me  a  bad  name,  for 
if  you  do  I  will  leave  you."  One  day  when  he  was  angry,  he  did  so, 
and  she  was  transformed  into  an  otter  and  went  home  under  the  water 
with  her  child.  Her  husband  followed  her,  but  he  could  no  longer 
stay  under  the  water,  as  he  used  to,  and  reached  the  bank  almost 
drowned,  when  he  met  Old  Man  Coyote,  who  said  to  him,  "Put  a  lot  of 
rocks  in  a  bag  and  tie  it  around  your  nec£."  So  he  did  this,  and  went 
down  under  the  water'  and  barely  came  out  alive.  He  then  went  to  the 
river  bank  near  the  home  of  his  wives  and  cried,  and  his  father-in-law 
said  to  his  daughters,  "Take  him  back  to  his  own  people."  But  the 


OCTOBER,  1903.     TRADITIONS  OF  THE  CROWS — SIMMS.  299 

daughters  would  not  at  first  consent.  At  last  the  daughter  (the  one 
without  a  child)  took  him  back,  and  they  lived  with  each  other  happily 
afterwards. 


1 6. — OLD  MAN  COYOTE,  HIS  DEEDS,  AND  "SORE-TAIL." 

Old  Man  Coyote  had  at  one  time  one  man  under  his  protection, 
whose  name  was  "Sore-Tail,"  who  always  led  his  people  in  war.  One 
day  when  they  saw  the  enemy's  camp,  each  man  prepared  his  own 
personal  medicine,  and  Old  Man  Coyote  transformed  himself  into  the 
Sun,  and  then  Sore-Tail  prepared  his  medicine  as  directed  by  the  Sun, 
by  putting  bright  red  circles  around  his  face.  He  then  declared, 
"If  my  face  looks  like  the  sun,  then  do  we  make  a  big  killing  of  the 
enemy  to-day." 

Each  man  looked  toward  the  sun  and  saw  that  it  had  a  bright  circle 
around  it  as  on  Sore-Tail's  face.  On  that  day  they  killed  many  and 
brought  back  many  captives  and  horses. 

Old  Man  Coyote  in  later  days  was  much  wiser,  and  the  people  had 
more  respect  for  him.  One  young  man  by  the  name  of  White-Robe 
saw  him,  in  his  vision  after  fasting  in  the  mountains,  and  Old  Man 
Coyote  took  him  under  his  protection  and  gave  him  power. 

Once  when  he  was  returning  with  a  war  party  of  brayes  from  war, 
late  at  night,  Old  Man  Coyote  lengthened  the  night  by  splicing  it,  that 
White-Robe  might  reach  his  camp  before  daybreak.  This  was  done 
by  the  shield  of  White-Robe,  given  to  him  by  Old  Man  Coyote,  which 
was  a  bright  red  one  with  bear's  ears  tied  on. 

One  day  while  Old  Man  Coyote  was  walking  near  a  lake,  he  spied 
a  large  number  of  geese  on  the  opposite  side,  and  he  said  to  them, 
''Come  over  to  this  side  and  Twill  give  you  something."  As  a  goose 
came  over  to  him;  he  would  seize  it  and  wring  its  neck.  This  was  done 
with  all  but  the  last  one,  that  also  came  over  and  was  seized  by  Old 
Man  Coyote ;  but  it  was  so  tall  and  strong  that  he  could  not  wring  its 
neck,  but  he  pulled  so  hard  upon  it  that  his  neck  was  elongated,  and  ever 
since  that  time,  geese  have  had  long  necks. 

17. — THE  CREATOR,  THE  PORCUPINE  AND  THE  CLIMBING  WOMAN. 

Once  upon  a  time  the  Creator  from  his  place  above  saw  among  the 
people  of  the  earth  a  beautiful  woman  that  he  wanted  very  much  to 
have  for  his  wife,  but  he  failed  in  every  way  to  get  her  until  he  pleaded 
with  the  Porcupine  to  assist  him.  The  Porcupine  told  him  that  he 


300        FIELD  COLUMBIAN  MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  II. 

could  get  her,  when  all  others. had  failed;  the  Porcupine  was  told  to  do 
this. 

The  Porcupine  went  to  the  camp  of  the  beautiful  woman  and 
^climbed  to  a  prominent  place  in  a  tree  near  the  ground,  close  to  the 
place  where  the  woman  would  go  for  wood.  As  she  came  for  wood, 
she  saw  the  Porcupine,  and  the  woman  said  to  a  companion  that  was 
with  her,  "Let  us  get  that  porcupine  for  his  quills,  to  make  moccasins, 
etc." 

She  then  began  to  climb  the  tree  where  the  Porcupine  was,  and 
just  as  she  was  about  to  place  her  hand  upon  it,  the  Porcupine  would 
move  up  higher  in  the  tree,  eluding  her  grasp.  The  woman's  com- 
panion cried  .and  begged  her  not  to  attempt .  to  catch  the  Porcupine, 
but  she  insisted  on  catching  it  and  would  climb  higher  and  higher  in 
her  efforts,  until  she  was  lost  to  the  view  of  her  companion,  and  soon 
appeared  before  the  Creator  (the  Sun),  to  whom  she  was  shortly 
afterwards  married. 

In  course  of  time  a  boy  was  born  of  them.  The  Creator  instructed 
his  wife  not  to  lift  any  buffalo  manure,  and  when  the  boy  grew  so  he 
could  shoot  birds  with  his  arrows  his  father  told  him  not  to  kill  the 
meadow  larks,  for  they  could  talk  Indian  words. 

One  day  the  wife  disobeyed  her  husband  by  lifting  the  buffalo 
manure,  which  covered  a  hole  through  which  she  looked  down  and 
saw  her  people  on  the  earth,  hunting  buffalo  and  having  a  good  time. 
The  same  day,  the  boy  disobeyed,  and  killed  a  meadow  lark,  and  the 
other  meadow  larks  said  to  him :  "You  do  not  belong  up  here ;  you  are 
a  people  of  a  different  world."  The  boy  came  home  crying,  because  he 
thought  he  belonged  up  there. 

The  Creator,  when  he  saw  the  secret  was  known  to  the  mother  and 
the  boy,  and  that  they  would  no  longer  be  happy  there,  planned  for 
them  to  return  home.  He  told  his  people  to  kill  one  buffalo  and  to  tie 
the  ends  of  the  fifteen  sinews  that  are  in  a  buffalo,  so  a  long  rope  would 
be  made.-  This  was  tied  to  the  mother  and  boy,  and  they  were  lowered 
through  the  hole  covered  with  manure  toward  the  lower  world,  until 
the  limit  of  the  rope  was  reached,  which  left  them  hanging  in  midair. 
In  making  the  rope,  a  sinew  from  the  leg  of  the  buffalo  had  been  for- 
gotten, that  would  have  made  the  rope  long  enough  to  reach  the  earth 
below.  The  Creator  took  a  large  rock  and  padded  it  with  buffalo  hair 
and  told  the  rock  to  go  down  and  break  the  rope  that  the  mother  and 
boy  might  be  able  to  reach  the  earth.  The  rock  went  down  and  hit 
the  woman  on  the  head  and  killed  her  and  she  fell  to  the  earth  along- 
side of  her  son,  who  wandered  over  the  earth  killing  everything  he 


OCTOBER,  1903.     TRADITIONS  OF  THE  CROWS — SIMMS.  301 

saw, — bear,  deer,  elk,  buffalo,  etc., — until  all  animals  were  afraid  of 
him. 

To  guard  against  being  killed  while  he  slept,  he  placed  his  arrows  in 
an  upright  position  around  his  body,  so  that  if  anything  should  come  to 
harm  him  the  arrows  would  drop  on  his  face  and  awaken  him.  One 
day  he  was  sleeping  and  a  snake  crawled  under  the  earth  and  came  up 
right  near  his  rectum,  and  the  arrows  all  hit  him  at  once,  but  it  was  too 
late ;  for  the  snake  had  crawled  up  in  his  body  through  his  rectum.  The 
boy  tore  his  legs  from  his  body  in  order  to  catch  the  snake,  but  the 
snake  had  gone  up  in  the  boy's  head. 

All  the  flesh  fell  from  the  boy's  body,  and  his  father,  the  Creator 
(or  Sun)  caused  a  strong  wind  to  blow,  which  rolled  the  skull  with 
the  snake  in  it  into  a  gulley  filled  with  water,  causing  the  skull  to  fill 
up  with  water,  and  the  snake  was  afraid  to  come  out  and  died  in  the 
skull  and  the  boy  never  regained  his  former  shape. 

l8. BONES-TOGETHER. 

Once  upon  a  time  people  were  without  meat,  and  were  in  great 
need  of  it.  At  the  spring  where  they  got  their  'drinking  water  was  a 
buffalo  skull  on  which  they  stepped  to  get  the  water. 

One  day  the  chief's  daughter  came  to  get  some  water,  and  stepping 
on  the  skull  she  said,  "If  my  father  and  hi$  people  will  get  meat  soon, 
I  will  marry  you."-  This  daughter  was  beautiful  and  all  the  men  were 
after  her.  Soon  after  this  they  had  a  big  buffalo  hunt,  and  procured 
all  the  meat  that  was  needed  for  many  days. 

The  evening  of  the  day  of  the  hunt,  the  chief's  daughter  went  to 
the  spring  after  water,  and  the  buffalo  skull  was  gone,  and  on  the  other 
side  of  the  spring  was  a  young  man  wearing  a  buffalo  robe  with  the 
hair  outwards.  He  spoke  to  her,  repeating  what  she  said  to  the  skull 
at  the  spring,  saying,  "You  people  have  plenty  of  meat  now,  for  I  was 
the  cause  ot  the  plenteousness  of  the  buffalo."  The  chief's  daughter 
said  she  would  marry  him,  and  asked  him  to  wait  until  she  went  home 
to  put  the  water  in  the  tipi  and  bring  her  sewing  articles.  When  she 
returned  to  the  spring,  the  young  man  was  a  buffalo  bull,  and  he  placed 
her  on  his  shoulders  (the  name  of  the  bull  was  Bones-Together,  be- 
cause he  came  together  after  being  dead  a  long  time)  and  carried  her 
away  and  married  her. 

The  chief's  daughter  had  been  previously  married,  and  her  hus- 
band missed  her  and  hunted  all  over  for  her,  but  looked  in  vain 
until  one  day  he  said  he  would  find  her.  He  made  two  quivers  of 
arrows  and  with  these  and  his  moccasins  packed  on  his  back  he  trav- 


302        FIELD  COLUMBIAN  MUSEUM— ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  II. 

elled  until  he  came  to  a  big  eagle,  whom  he  asked  to  help  him  find 
his  wife.  The  eagle  said :  "I  can  tell  you  where  your  wife  is,  but  I 
can't  help  you,  for  Bones-Together  has  your  wife  and  he  is  all  power- 
iul."  The  husband  begged  all  the  animals  to  help  him  find  his  wife, 
but  all  excepting  the  mole  were  afraid  of  Bones-Together. 

The  moles  agreed  to  help  him,  because  he  was  a  poor  man.  They 
carried  him  under  ground  to  near  where  the  bull  was  standing  on  a 
high  hill,  with  his  wife  sitting  under  the  bull,  sewing.  One  of  the 
moles  said,  ''You  wait  here;  I  want  to  go  and  scent  a  bit.''  He  poked 
his  nose  up  above  the  ground,  and  as  he  did  so,  the  guards  (cranes)  of 
the  buffalo  made  a  noise  of  warning.  Bones-Together  lifted  his  tail 
and  looked  around  for  the  cause  of  the  danger,  but  the  mole  had  es- 
caped under  ground. 

The  mole  said  to  the  husband,  "When  the  sun  is  overhead  Bones - 
Together  goes  down  to  the  lake  for  water  and  places  the  bucket  on  his 
horns,  and  then  is  our  only  chance  of  getting  your  wife."  At  noon, 
Bones-Together  started  for  the  water  with  the  bucket  on  his  horn. 
Then  the  chief  of  the  moles  said,  "Now  is  our  chance  to  get  your  wife." 
The  man  sprang  out  <5f  the  hole  and  grabbed  his  wife  and  went  back  in 
the  hole  with  her  and  under  the  ground,  until  he  came  to  a  big  river. 

The  little  moles  were  played  out,  and  said,  "We  can't  go  any  further, 
you  will  have  to  find  your  way  home  alone;  for  we  know  Bones-To- 
gether is  going  to  kill  us."  The  man  and  wife,  with  their  belongings, 
got  out  in  the  river  in  a  boat  made  of  willows,  and  went  down  the 
stream. 

When  Bones-Together  returned  from  the  lake  with  the  water,  his 
wife  was  gone.  He  tracked  her  to  the  hole  in  the  ground  where  she 
had  escaped,  and  put  his  horn  in  the  hole  and  ripped  up  the  ground 
all  along.  When  he  came  to  the  river,  he  lost  the  track  and  turned 
around  and  made  a  loud  call  upon  the  west,  the  north,  the  east,  and  the 
south,  saying,  " Bones-Together 's  wife  was  stolen  from  him  and  he 
wants  your  assistance  to  get  her  back." 

The  man  pushed  the  boat  down  the  river  until  he  was  tired,  and  he 
and  his  wife  landed  near  a  big  tree,  the  largest  tree  they  had  ever  seen, 
and  at  the  top  of  it  was  a  bald-head  eagle's  nest.  They  thought  it  would 
be  safer  up  there  in  the  nest  than  down  on  the  ground.  So  up  they 
climbed  to  the  eagle's  nest  and  got  in  it  and  stayed  there. 

From  all  points,  east,  south,  west,  and  north,  the  buffalo  came  in 
response  to  Bones-Together's  appeal.  Bones-Together  led  them  down 
the  stream.  Early  in  the  morning  they  began  passing  under  the  tree. 
The  wife  wanted  very  much  to  urinate,  but  her  husband  endeavored 


OCTOBER,  1903.     TRADITIONS  OF  THE  CROWS — SIMMS.  303 

to  persuade  her  to  wait  a  while  longer,  until  the  last  buffalo  had  gone 
by.  She  waited  until  but  a  few  more  buffalo  had  to  pass,  when  she 
could  wait  no  longer.  So  her  husband  folded  her  robe  and  told  her  to 
urinate  in  that ;  but  it  leaked  through  and  a  drop  of  her  urine  fell  upon 
the  head  of  the  last  buffalo,  which  was  an  old  bull.  He  looked  up  and 
saw  that  Bones-Together's  wife  was  in  the  tree  with  her  first  husband. 

The  old  bull  signaled  the  other  buffalo  to  return,  which  they  did, 
and  all  joined  in  a  mighty  effort  to  butt  the  tree  down.  When  Bones- 
Together  would  hit  the  tree  the  slabs  would  come  off  from  it.  The 
attack  on  the  tree  continued  all  that  day  and  for  three  days  more,  and 
toward  the  evening  of  the  fourth  day  the  tree  began  to  quiver  and 
shake  when  Bones-Together  hit  it. 

The  man  and  wife  in  the  tree  began  to  pray  to  all  animals  to  help 
them  escape.  All  were  afraid  to  help  them  except  the  night  hawk,  who 
came  and  told  them  secretly  to  shoot  Bones-Together  in  the  neck 
when  he  came  toward  the  tree;  and  shoot  under  his  tail  when  he  was 
leaving  the  tree.  The  man  did  as  he  was  directed,  and  caused  the 
buffalo  to  scatter  in  all  directions  (and  that  is  the  reason  why  buffalo 
are  all  around). 

The  man  and  his  wife  came  down  and  went  home  and  lived  happily 
afterwards. 

19. — RED- WOMAN  AND  THE  DEEDS  OF  Two  BOYS. 

Once  upon  a  time  there  lived  a  couple,  the  woman  being  pregnant. 
The  man  went  hunting  one  day,  and  in  his  absence  a  certain  wicked 
woman  named  Red- Woman  came  to  the  tipi  and  killed  his  wife  and 
cut  her  open  and  found  boy  twins.  She  threw  one  behind  the  tipi 
curtain,  and  the  other  she  threw  into  a  spring.  She  then  put  a  stick 
inside  of  the  woman  and  stuck  one  end  in  the  ground,  to  give  her  the 
appearance  of  a  live  person,  and  burned  her  upper  lip,  giving  her  the 
appearance  as  though  laughing. 

When  her  husband  came  home,  tired  from  carrying  the  deer,  he  had 
killed,  he  saw  his  wife  standing  near  the  door  of  the  tipi,  looking  as 
though  she  were  laughing  at  him,  and  he  said :  "I  am  tired  and  hun- 
gry, why  do  you  laugh  at  me?''  and  pushed  her.  As  she  fell  back- 
wards, her  stomach  opened,  and  he  caught  hold  of  her  and  discovered 
she  was  dead.  He  knew  at  once  that  Red- Woman  had  killed  his  wife. 

Wrhile  the  man  was  eating  supper  alone  one  night,  a  voice  said, 
''Father,  give  me  some  of  your  supper."  As  no  one  was  in  sight,  he 
resumed  eating  and  again  the  voice  asked  for  supper.  The  man  said, 
"Whoever  you  are,  you  may  come  and  eat  with  me,  for  I  am  poor  and 


304        FIELD  COLUMBIAN   MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  II. 

alone."  A  young  boy  came  from  behind  the  curtain,  and  said  his 
name  was  ' 'Thrown-behind-the-Curtain."  During  the  day,  while  the 
man  went  hunting,  the  boy  stayed  home.  One  day  the  boy  said, 
'"Father,  make  me  two  bows  and  the  arrows  for  them/'  His  father 
asked  him  why  he  wanted  two  bows.  The  boy  said,  "I  want  them  to 
change  about.*'  His  father  made  them  for  him,  but  surmised  the  boy 
had  other  reasons,  and  concluded  he  would  watch  the  boy,  and  on  one 
day,  earlier  than  usual,  he  left  his  tipi  ajid  hid  upon  a  hill  overlooking 
his  tipi,  and  while  there,  he  saw  two  boys  of  about  the  same  age  shoot- 
ing arrows. 

That  evening  when  he  returned  home,  he  asked  his  son,  "Is  there 
not  another  little  boy  of  your  age  about  here  ?"  His  son  said,  "Yes,  and 
he  lives  in  the  spring."  His  father  said,  "You  should  bring  him  out 
and  make  him  live  with  us/'  The  son  said,  "I  cannot  make  him,  be- 
cause he  has  sharp  teeth  like  an  otter,  but  if  you  will  make  me  a  suit 
of  rawhide,  I  will  try  and  catch  him." 

One  day,  arrangements  were  made  to  catch  the  boy.  The  father 
said,  "I  will  stay  here  in  the  tipi  and  you  tell  him  I  have  gone  out." 
So  Thrown-behind-the-Curtain  said  to  "Thrown-in-Spring,"  "Come 
out  and  play  arrows."  Thrown-in^Spring  came  out  just  a  little,  and 
said,  "I  smell  something."  Thrown-behind-the-Curtain  said,  "No,  you 
don't,  my  father  is  not  home,"  and  after  insisting,  Thrown-in-Sprmg 
came  out,  and  both  boys  began  to  play.  While  they  were  playing, 
Thrown-behind-the-Curtain  disputed  a  point  of  their  game,  and  as 
Thrown-in-Spring  stooped  over  to  see  how  close  his  arrow  came, 
Thrown-behind-the-Curtain  grabbed  him  from  behind  and  held  his 
arms  close  to  his  sides  and  Thrown-in-Spring  turned  and  attempted  to 
bite  him,  but  his  teeth  could  not  penetrate  the  rawhide  suit.  The  father 
came  to  the  assistance  of  Thrown-behind-the-Curtain  and  the  water  of 
the  spring  rushed  out  to  help  Thrown-in-Spring;  but  Thrown-in- 
Spring  was  dragged  to  a  high  hill  where  the  water  could  not  reach 
him,  and  there  they  burned  incense  under  his  nose,  and  he  became  hu- 
man. The  three  of  them  lived  together. 

One  day  one  of  the  boys  said,  "Let  us  go  and  wake  up  mother." 
They  went  to  the  mother's  grave  and  one  said,  "Mother,  your  stone 
pot  is  dropping/'  and  she  moved.  The  other  boy  said,  "Mother,  your 
hide  dresser  is  falling,"  and  she  sat  up.  Then  one  of  them  said, 
"Mother,  your  bone  crusher  is  falling,"  and  she  began  to  arrange  her 
hair,  which  had  begun  to  fall  off.  The  mother  said.  "I  have  been  asleep 
a  long  time."  She  accompanied  the  boys  home. 

The  boys  were  forbidden  by  their  father  to  go  to  the  river  bend 


OCTOBER.  1903-     TRADITIONS  OF  THE  CROWS  —  SIMMS.  305 

above  their  tqa;  for  an  old  woman  lived  there  who  had  a  boiling  pot, 
and  every  time  she  saw  any  firing  object,  she  tilted  the  kettle  toward 
it  and  the  object  was  drawn  into  the  pot  and  boiled  for  her  to  eat. 
The  boys  went  one  day  to  see  the  old  woman,  and  they  fotmd  her  asleep 
and  they  stole  tip  and  got  her  pot  and  awakened  the  old  woman  and 
said  to  her,  "Grandmother,  why  have  yon  this  here?  T  at  the  same 
time  tilting  the  pot  towards  her,  by  which  she  was  drowned  and  boiled 
to  death.  They  took  the  pot  borne  and  gave  it  to  their  mother  for  her 
;  "  r.  pr  :  V:  :t:  :  ... 

Their  father  told  them  not  to  disobey  him  again  and  said.  "There 
is  .q.MiKrimig  over  the  hiB  I  do  not  want  yon  to  go  near."  They  were 
very  anxious  to  find  out  what  this  thing  was,  and  they  went  over  to  the 
hffl  and  as  they  poked  their  beads  over  the  hilltop,  the  thing  began  to 
draw  in  air,  and  the  boys  were  drawn  in  also;  and  as  they  went  in.  they 
saw  people  and  a^ifnaH,  some  4?frd  a**l  others  diving.  The  thing 
"  v  ..-"-:  •-.".  ~  •-.-.•  -r  -'.:'.•:  :•  i  ."  -•-.:.  "r.-:  :  :'•  -  V  - 


the  kidneys  of  the  thing  and  asked  what  they  were.  The  alligator  said, 
"That  is  my  medicine,  do  not  touch  it."  And  the  boy  reached  np  and 
touched  its  heart  and  asked  what  it  was,  and  the.  serpent  grunted  and 
said,  "This  is  where  I  make  my  plans."  One  of  the  boys  said,  "Yon 
do  make  plans,  do  yon?'*  and  he  cut  the  heart  off  and  it  died.  They 
made  their  escape  by  cutting  between  the  ribs  and  liberated  the  living 
ones  and  took  a  piece  of  the  heart  home  to  their  father. 

After  the  father  had  administered  another  scolding,,  he  told  the 
boys  not  to  go  near  die  three  trees  standing  in  a  triangular  shaped  piece 
of  ground;  for  if  anything  went  under  them  they  would  bend  to  the 
ground  suddenly,,  killing  everything  in  their  way.    One  day  die  boys 
'    :•-:  '-•-'  ir:~  :".'  —  :r---  ±    -  :  ......  -  ?"-.-.-'.••  •:-.-  [  :    -   ~~    ---  -  =u  :  i-rr.l;- 

near  the  trees,  which  bent  violently  and  struck  the  ground  without  hit- 
ting diem.  They  jumped  over  the  trees,  breaking  the  branches,,  and 
v  •:••  -  •-:':  "  :  r  -  i::.r  :'•-;  ':--.-.:"•.;  •  er; 

Once  more  die  boys  were  scolded  and  told  not  to  go  near  a  tipi  over 
the  mH  ;  for  it  was  inhabited  by  snakes,  and  diey  would  approach  any- 
one asleep  and  dkt£i  his  body  through  die  rectum.  Again  the  boys 
did  as  they  were  told  not  to  do  and  went  to  die  tipi,  and  die  snakes  in- 
vited them  m.  They  trtul  in  and  carried  flat  pMces  of  stone  with  them 
and  as  they  sat  down  they  placed  the  flat  pieces  of  stones  under  their 
r-;  "/.:"  -. 

After  diey  had  been  in  die  tipi  a  short  while,  the  snakes  began 
putting  their  heads  over  the  poles  around  the  fireplace  and  the  snakes 
began  to  relate  stories,  and  one  of  diem  said,  "When  there  is  a  drizzling 


306        FIELD  COLUMBIAN  MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  II. 

rain,  and  when  we  are  under  cover,  it  is  nice  to  sleep."  One  of  the 
boys  said,  "When  we  are  lying  down  under  the  pine  trees  and  the  wind 
blows  softly  through  them  and  has  a  weird  sound,  it  is  nice  to  sleep." 
'  All  but  one  of  the  snakes  went  to  sleep,  and  that  one  tried  to  enter  the 
rectum  of  each  of  the  boys  and  failed,  on  account  of  the  flat  stone.  The 
boys  killed  all  the  other  snakes  but  that  one,  and  they  took  that  one  and 
rubbed  its  head  against  the  side  of  a  cliff,  and  that  is  the  reason  why 
snakes  have  flattened  heads. 

Again  the  boys  were  scolded  by  their  father,  who  said,  "There  is 
a  man  living  on  that  steep  cut  bank,  with  deep  water  under  it,  and  if 
you  go  near  it  he  will  push  you  over  the  bank  into  the  water  for  his 
father  in  the  water  to  eat."  The  boys  went  to  the  place,  but  before 
going,  they  fixed  their  headdresses  with  dried  grass.  Upon  their  ar- 
rival at  the  edge  of  the  bank,  one  said  to  the  other,  "Just  as  he  is  about 
to  push  you  over,  lie,  down  quickly.''  The  man  from  his  hiding  place 
suddenly  rushed  out  to  push  the  boys  over,  and  just  as  he  was  about  to 
do  it,  the  boys  threw  themselves  quickly  upon  the  ground,  and  the  man 
went  over  their  heads,  pulling  their  headdress  with  him,  and  his  father 
in  the  water  ate  him. 

Upon  the  boys'  return,  and  after  telling  what  they  had  done,  their 
father  scolded  them  and  told  them,  "There  is  a  man  who  wears  moc- 
casins of  fire,  and  when  he  wants  anything,  he  goes  around  it  and  it  is 
burned  up."  The  boys  ascertained  where  this  man  lived  and  stole  upon 
him  one  day  when  he  was  sleeping  under  a  tree  and  each  one  of  the 
boys  took  off  a  moccasin  and  put  it  on  and  they  awoke  him  and  ran 
about  him  and  he  was  burned  and  went  up  in  smoke.  They  took  the 
moccasins  home. 

Their  father  told  them  that  something  would  yet  happen  to  them ; 
for  they  had  killed  so  many  bad  things.  One  day  while  walking  the 
valley  they  were  lifted  from  the  earth  and  after  travelling  in  mid  air 
for  some  time,  they  were  placed  on  top  of  a  peak  in  a  rough  high  moun- 
tain with  a  big  lake  surrounding  it  and  the  Thunder-Bird  said  to  them, 
"I  want  you  to  kill  a  long  otter  that  lives  in  the  lake;  he  eats  all  the 
young  ones  that  I  produce  and  I  cannot  make  him  stop."  So  the  boys 
began  to  make  arrows,  and  they  gathered  dry  pine  sticks  and  began  to 
heat  rocks,  and  the  long  otter  came  towards  them.  As  it  opened  its 
mouth  the  boys  shot  arrows  into  it;  and  as  that  did  not  stop  it  from 
drawing  nearer,  they  threw  the  hot  rocks  down  its  throat,  and  it  curled 
up  and  died  afterwards.  They  were  taken  up  and  carried  through  the 
air  and  gently  placed  upon  the  ground  near  their  homes,  where  they 
lived  for  many  years. 


OCTOBER,  1903.     TRADITIONS  OF  THE  CROWS — SIMMS.  307 

20. — THE  STUMP-HORN  AND  THE  BLADDER. 

Once  upon  a  time  when  the  people  were  hungry  and  were  led  by 
the  chiefs  to  hunt  buffalo,  there  were  two  poor  boys  in  the  party.  One 
of  the  boys  had  a  grandmother. 

While  the  camp  was  moving,  the  boys  were  playing  on  one  side  a 
game  with  arrows,  and  during  the  afternoon,  the  party  halted  and  the 
boy  who  had  a  grandmother  saw  the  halt  made,  and  he  told  his  play- 
mate to  go  and  tell  the  chief  that  they  had  better  camp  where  he  was 
playing,  for  it  was  a  good  place,  and  not  to  say  anything  more,  but 
come  back.  The  boy  did  as  he  was  told,  and  the  sub-chiefs  took  offense 
at  the  boy  directing  their  chiefs.  The  chief  said,  "vVhere  is  your 
place?"  The  boy  directed  him  to  it,  which  angered  all  the  others;  but 
the  camp  was  made  at  the  spot  designated. 

Just  as  they  were  unpacking,  they  heard  the  voice  of  a  man  shout- 
ing repeatedly  from  a  hill,  and  making  signs.  The  men  of  the  camp  got 
on  their  horses  and  rode  up  to  the  man  on  the  hill  and  he  told  them  that 
a  large  drove  of  elks  was  coming  down  the  river.  Among  the  men 
who  went  up  the  hill  was  the  chief.  Before  they  started  to  hunt  the 
elks,  the  chief  said,  "I  am  going  back  to  ask  the  boy  who  directed  me  to 
stop  here,  what  to  do."  He  went  back  and  asked  the  boy,  who  said, 
"Right  opposite  that  blue  bank  there,  is  a  lot  of  sticking  mud;  drive 
the  elk  in  there."  The  other  boy  told  the  chief  to  bring  him  a  stump- 
horn  of  an  old  elk,  also  its  bladder.  The  two  boys  went  with  the  hunt- 
ing party  and  saw  the  killing  and  brought  back  to  the  grandmother  of 
the  boy  a  dead  young  elk. 

The  chief  ordered  all  the  elk  teeth  to  be  gathered  and  brought  to 
him,  and  when  the  teeth  were  brought  to  him  he  directed 
the  teeth  to  be  taken  to  the  tipi  where  the  boys  lived.  The  boy 
who  ordered  the  stump-horn  and  the  bladder,  said  to  the  one  bring- 
ing the  elk  teeth,  "Take  them  back  to  the  chief;  he  has  two  daugh- 
ters, who  may  find  use  for  them."  The  chief  sent  word  back  to  the  boys 
that  they  were  poor  where  they  were ;  that  they  had  better  come  over 
and  live  in  the  tipi  he  had  placed  for  them  near  his  own  tipi ;  and  that 
he  would  give  his  two  daughters  to  them, — and  the  boys  obeyed  the 
chief. 

After  the  stump-horn  and  bladder  had  been  dressed  and  prepared, 
the  owner  of  them  told  the  chief  to  hang  them  up  in  his  tipi. 

One  day,  after  the  boys  had  been  married  to  the  daughters  of  the 
chief  and  had  lived  with  him  for  some  time,  moving  about  from  place 
to  place,  hunting  elk  until  most  of  the  elk  had  been  killed  or  driven 


308        FIELD  COLUMBIAN  MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  II. 

away,  and  the  camp  was  again  in  great  need  of  meat,  the  chief  told  his 
two  daughters  that  the  camp  was  out  of  meat  and  that  all  would  starve 
if  meat  could  not  be  had.  So  the  daughters  told  their  husbands  what 
*their  father  had  said,  and  the  boy  who  owned  the  stump-horn  and  blad- 
der said,  "There  is  lots  of  cottonwood  right  above  here ;  tell  your  father 
to  order  everybody  out  and  make  a  large  corral,  and  we  two  boys  will 
see  what  we  can  do  for  the  people."  The  daughter  told  her  father, 
who  told  all  of  his  followers  to  build  a  large  corral.  •  Before  daybreak 
the  next  day,  the  corral  was  made,  and  the  boys  told  their  wives  to  tell 
their  father  to  come  out  on  the  top  of  the  sharp  hill  when  the  day  was 
breaking.  The  two  boys  departed,  and  at  the  breaking  of  day  the  chief 
went  to  the  top  of  the  hill  and  saw  the  buffalo  going  in  the  corral,  and 
at  sunrise,  a  large  herd  was  in  the  corral,  driven  in  there  by  the  two 
boys.  This  they  did  four  times  and  the  camp  had  plenty  of  meat  for  a 
long  time. 

One  night  the  stump-horn  and  the  bladder  disappeared  with  the  two 
boys,  but  they  soon  came  back  with  the  enemy's  horses.  This  was  done 
four  times.  For  four  times  the  boys  disappeared  and  returned  with  the 
scalps  of  the  slain  enemies. 

There  was  a  poor  boy  in  the  camp,  who  was  envious  of  the  powers 
of  the  two  boys  and  wanted  to  go  with  them  and  be  one  of  them. 

The  two  boys'  medicines  were  stars,  inclosed  in  the  bladder,  and 
when  the  boys  wanted  to  achieve  anything  great  they  would  untie  the 
bag  and  the  stars  would  come  out  and  execute  the  deeds  required  of 
them,  and  the  boys  would  get  the  credit. 

The  third  boy  was  allowed  to  join  the  two  boys,  but  was  made  to 
promise  to  say  nothing  about  the  medicine  in  the  bladder  or  reveal  any 
plans.  The  third  boy  began  to  accompany  the  two  boys,  who  continued 
to  perform  great  deeds,  until  another  boy  wished  to  join  the  three 
boys,  though  the  original  boys  objected.  A  council  was  held  by  the 
three  boys,  and  the  fourth  boy  was  allowed  to  join  in  their  undertak- 
ings, which  caused  considerable  wonder  among  the  older  people  of  the 
camp,  who  said,  "They  are  not  old;  they  are  young  boys;  how  can 
they  do  these  things,  as  they  are  so  few  in  number?" 

One  night  the  boys  disappeared  with  the  medicine  and  went  to  the 
enemy's  camp.  As  they  neared  the  camp  the  owner  of  the  bladder  un- 
tied the  string  around  it  and  the  stars  came  out  in  the  form  of  war- 
riors. There  were  many  of  these  warriors  who  fought  the  enemy,  and 
they  defeated  them.  While  the  battle  was  being  fought,  the  four  boys 
looked  on  from  a  hilltop  near  by  and  as  soon  as  the  battle  was  over 
the  owner  of  the  bladder  returned  the  warriors  (stars)  to  the  bladder. 


OCTOBER,  1903.     TRADITIONS  OF  THE  CROWS — SIMMS.  309 

The  four  boys  gathered  the  scalps  and  a  large  number  of  prisoners, 
mostly  women  and  children,  and  took  them  home.  The  four  boys  re- 
peated this  and  brought  many  horses. 

The  people  wanted  to  know  how  these  boys  could  do  such  great 
things,  and  the  last  boy  to  join,  told  the  two  daughters  of  the  chief  how 
the  keeper  of  the  bladder  and  his  associates  were  so  victorious. 

As  soon  as  the  two  original  boys  heard  that  they  had  been  deceived, 
the  keeper  of  the  bladder  took  his  medicine  and  disappeared  in  the  sky, 
where  he  belonged,  and  was  formerly  one  of  the  big  stars ;  the  other 
three  boys  remained  on  earth. 

21. — THE  BEAUTIFUL  DAUGHTER  OF  A  CHIEF,  HER  WICKED  HUSBAND 
AND  THE  SEVEN  BRO'THERS. 

Once  upon  a  time  there  lived  a  chief  who  had  a  beautiful  daughter, 
with  whom  the  sons  of  other  chiefs  were  in  love,  and  each  wanted  her 
for  his  wife,  but  she  was  proud  and  would  not  consent.  But  one  day, 
she  said  she  would  marry  the  man  she  should  next  meet  at  the  spring 
where  she  went  to  get  water,  and  she  began  preparations  to  accompany 
the  man,  if  he  came  from  afar,  to  go  on  the  journey  to  his  home. 

Towards  evening,  one  day,  she  went  to  the  spring  to  get  some  water 
and  she  saw  a  man  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  spring  wrapped  up  in  a 
buffalo  robe.  He  said  to  her,  "Come  on/'  and  she  followed  him  to  his 
camp,  where  he  lived  in  a  big  tipi. 

It  was  the  custom  of  this  man  to  go  after  the  beautiful  women  of 
different  tribes,  and  when  any  one  of  the  women  would  vex  him  four 
times  he  would  throw  her  over  a  steep  bank  into  the  river,  where  his 
father  lived  in  the  shape  of  an  alligator,  which  devoured  the  women  as 
they  were  thrown  in. 

After  the  chief's  daughter  had  been  with  this  man  she  followed 
from  the  spring  for  a  short  time,  and  he  told  her  to  comb  his  hair, 
which  she  started  to  do ;  but  finding  snakes  in  his  hair,  she  pushed  him 
away  from  her,  which  vexed  the  man,  for  the  first  time.  The  following 
day  he  ordered  her  to  wipe  his  neck,  and  there  she  found  worms  crawl- 
ing around  it,  and  again  she  pushed  him  away  and  for  the  second  time 
she  vexed  him.  The  next  day,  he  told  her  to  wash  his  feet,  and  she 
found  them  decayed  and  badly  swollen,  and  as  she  refused  to  do  this 
for  him,  he  was  vexed  for  the  third  time.  He  next  told  her  to  make 
him  a  robe  of  thick  buffalo  hide,  and  she  told  him  she  could  not  do  so, 
for  she  had  no  tools,  and  she  cried  because  she  could  not  do  it ;  but  he 
insisted.  Still  she  declared  she  could  not  do  it,  and  for  the  fourth  time 
he  was  vexed. 


310        FIELD  COLUMBIAN  MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  II. 

Soon  after  being  vexed  for  the  fourth  time,  he  said  to  her,  "Let 
us  go  and  pick  berries  on  the  hill."  After  they  had  returned  from 
picking  berries,  he  told  her  to  go  to  work  on  the  buffalo  robe,  and  she 
tried  to  make  the  robe,  but  could  not,  and  folded  it  up  as  a  pillow  and 
laid  her  head  upon  it  and  cried,  when  lots  of  ants  came  over  to  her  and 
asked  why  she  was  crying,  and  she  told  them.  They  told  her  to  leave  it 
there  and  come  back  for  it  on  the  fourth  day,  which  she  did ;  and  she 
found  a  beautiful  robe.  The  ants  said  to  her,  "He  will  take  a  walk  with 
you  to  the  steep  bank  where  your  husband's  father  lives  in  the  water, 
and  if  he  gets  a  chance,  he  will  push  you  over  in  the  river  for  his 
father  to  eat ;  and  when  you  go  with  him,  tie  a  weak  string  where  your 
blanket  ties  together  at  the  throat,  and  when  he  goes  to  push  you,  you 
must  lie  down  suddenly  and  instead  of  pushing  you,  he  will  grab  your 
robe  and  go  over  the  bank  into  the  river ;  and  when  he  goes  over  the 
bank,  you  must  run  fast  to  the  mountain  peak,  for  there  is  no  one  who 
could  help  you  but  the  seven  brothers  who  live  on  this  side  of  the  peak." 

On  the  day  following  her  instructions  from  the  ants,  her  husband 
took  her  to  walk  along  the  cut  bank  and  tried  to  push  her  over,  but  she 
did  as  was  directed  by  the  ants  by  dropping  suddenly  to  the  ground, 
and  her  husband  seized  her  cloak,  which  broke  at  the  fastening  and  he 
went  over  the  bank  into  the  river.  The  woman  then  fled  to  the  moun- 
tain peak. 

After  the  father  had  eaten  his  son,  he  vomited  him  up,  as  soon  as 
he  discovered  it  to  be  his  son,  and  put  him  together  again  and  told  his 
son  by  all  means  to  catch  his  wife,  which  he  made  haste  to  do. 

His  wife  continued  to  run,  and  about  half-way,  she  turned  around 
and  saw  her  husband  coming  a  long  way  off.  .She  hurried,  and  as  she 
neared  the  tipi  of  the  seven  brothers  on  the  peak,  her  husband  was 
just  behind  her.  She  called  loudly  for  help.  Six'  of  the  brothers  were 
away ;  the  one  left  behind  at  ,the  tipi  was  the  smallest. 

The  small  brother,  when  he  heard  the  cries  for  help  said  to  her, 
"You  must  run  around  the  tipi  four  times  before  you  can  get  in."  She 
ran  around  the  tipi  four  times,  and  upon  the  fourth  time  her  husband 
was  touching  her,  and  the  door  opened,  the  woman  ran  in,  and  her 
husband  was  left  outside.  The  husband  demanded  of  the  little  brother 
to  send  his  wife  out,  but  the  little  brother  sat  by  a  big  bowl  of  soup 
drinking  it,  and  did  not  answer  the  husband. 

For  four  times  did  the  husband  demand  of  the  little  brother  his  wife, 
and  upon  the  fourth  time  the  small  brother  turned  loose  his  watch  dog 
(a  mountain  lion)  to  kill  the  husband,  but  it  soon  returned,  all  cut 
and  bleeding.  The  small  brother  next  sent  the  grizzly  bear,  and  it 


OCTOBER,  1903.     TRADITIONS  OF  THE  CROWS — SIMMS.  311 

came  back  bleeding  and  wounded,  and  the  small  brother  dressed  the 
wounds  with  the  grease  of  the  soup.  He  then  sent  both  out  together ; 
both  came  back  badly  wounded  and  died  in  the  tipi.  The  little  brother 
said  he  would  try  to  kill  him,  and  he  went  outside  and  seized  the  hus- 
band and  threw  him  with  all  his  strength  upon  the  ground  and  tried  to 
break  him  in  pieces,  but  he  landed  upon  his  feet.  Four  times  did  the 
little  brother  do  this.  On  the  fourth  time,  .the  little  brother  succeeded 
in  throwing  the  husband,  when  he  called  out  to  the  wife,  "Sister,  bring 
my  shield  and  axe."  So  she  brought  them.  He  then  told  her  to  make 
a  big  fire  and  to  burn  her  husband  up  and  to  watch  the  sparks  of  the 
fire  as  they  fell  out,  to  throw  them  back  again,  as  his  father  is  powerful 
and  would  bring  him  back  to  life  again.  A  big  fire  was  made  and  the 
husband  placed  upon  it  and  it  began  to  burn,  while  the  little  brother  and 
the  woman  sat  by,  throwing  back  the  sparks,  until  the  fire  went  out. 

One  day  the  six  brothers  returned  from  hunting,  and  soon  found 
that  some  other  person  besides  the  brother  was  in  the  tipi;  for  every- 
thing about  was  in  such  order.  The  six  brothers  inquired  of  their 
smallest  brother  who  was  with  him,  and  he  said  to  them,  "I  have  a 
sister,"  and  he  told  her  to  come  out.  When  she  came  out,  the  oldest 
brother  wanted  her  for  his  wife,  but  the  little  brother  objected,  saying 
that  he  wanted  her  for  a  sister.  They  all  then  agreed  to  keep  her  for 
their  sister. 

One  day  the  little  brother  wanted  to  go  hunting  with  his  six  broth- 
ers, and  before  going,  told  the  sister  not  to  let  a  certain  woman  come  in, 
saying,  "She  carries  an  old  man  on  her  back  as  her  baby,  and  she  is  a 
bad  woman/' 

After  the  brothers  had  gone,  the  old  woman  with  the  old  man  on  her 
back  came  to  the  tipi  and  called  to  the  sister,  saying,  "Sister  of  the 
seven  brothers,  let  me  in."  This  the  sister  refused  to  do,  until  the  old 
woman  demanded  four  times,  and  at  the  fourth  time,  the  sister  let  her 
in,  and  after  staying  a  little  while,  the  old  woman  went  away. 

When  the  seven  brothers  returned  from  hunting,  the  little  brother 
discovered  that  the  old  woman  had  been  there  and  his  heart  was  sad, 
for  his  sister  had  disobeyed  him.  The  little  brother  said,  "We  must 
leave  here  now,  for  our  s'ister  will  soon  die  if  we  remain ;  for  this  old 
woman  is  bad  and  powerful."  He  took  an  arrow  from  each  of  the 
brothers,  and  one  of  his  own,  and  shot  the  first  one  through  the  smoke 
opening  of  the  tipi,  and  all  the  brothers  and  the  sister  followed  the 
arrow  through  the  air.  As  the  arrow  was  about  to  drop,  another  arrow 
was  shot  upwards,  and  the  brothers  and  the  sister  followed  this  one. 
This  was  done  until  the  seventh  arrow  was  shot,  which  they  followed 


312        FIELD  COLUMBIAN  MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  II. 

to  the  top  of  a  high  mountain ;  and  the  little  brother  said,  "This  is  as 
far  as  we  can  go,  and  if  she  comes,  she  can  kill  all  of  us." 

The  old  woman  came  to  the  tipi  and  found  the  seven  brothers  and 
the  sister  gone,  and  she  looked  around  the  tipi  and  could  find  no  tracks, 
and  when  she  entered  the  tipi  and  looked  up  and  saw  breath  feathers 
(eagle  down)  from  an  arrow  sticking  through  the  opening  at  the  top, 
she  went  through  the  top  and  followed  the  seven  brothers  and  the  sis- 
ter through  the  air,  to  where  they  were. 

When  the  seven  brothers  and  the  sister  saw  a  black  cloud,  they 
knew  she  was  coming,  and  they  prepared  to  fight  her,  and  in  the  fight 
that  followed  her  coming,  all  the  brothers  but  the  youngest,  and  the 
adopted  sister,  were  killed.  The  little  brother  took  his  shield  and  battle 
axe  and  killed  the  old  woman.  After  killing  her,  he  restored  his  broth- 
ers to  life  again,  and  said,  "We  are  no  longer  fit  to  live  in  this  world, 
for  you  all  have  been  killed ;  so  let  us  all  go  up  above  and  remain  always 
together." 

They  all  went  up  and  were  turned  into  the  seven  stars,  forming  the 
Dipper,  and  the  sister  was  turned  into  the  little  star  near  the  Dipper. 

22. — THE  SELFISH  CHIEF  AND  THE  Two  BOYS. 

Once  upon  a  time,  there  lived  a  bad,  selfish  chief,  who  took  the 
best  of  everything  from  his  followers,  and  who  could  not  be  harmed 
and  was  very  strong.  He  would  take  all  the  teeth  of  the  elk  at  all  the 
killings  and  would  take  another  man's  wife  if  he  liked  her  looks. 
There  was  also  a  grandmother  who  had  two  grandsons,  the  older  one 
having  a  pretty  wife,  whom  the  chief  took  away  from  the  husband, 
leaving  three. in  the  family. 

One  day  a  big  buffalo  hunt  was  held,  and  during  the  killing,  the  bad 
chief  sat  near  the  edge  of  the  killing  place  and  looked  on  while  ten  of 
his  men  selected  the  best  of  the  meat  and  the  skins.  The  young  grand- 
son went  to  the  river  to  get  a  drink  and  just  as  he  got  to  the  river,  he 
saw  a  buffalo  cow  dead,  an  arrow  in  her  side. 

The  cow  was  fat  and  was  about  to  have  a  calf.  The  boy  took  his 
knife  and  cut  the  best  parts  of  the  cow  and  took  the  calf  with  him  and 
placed  it  in  a"  hollow  of  a  tree.  Just  then  one  of  the  ten  men  of  the 
chief  came  over  to  him,  and  inquired  who  killed  the  cow,  and  the  boy 
said,  "I  do  not  know,  for  I  found  it  lying  here."  The  man  told  the 
chief  that  somebody  had  killed  a  fat  cow  and  taken  the  best  parts  of 
it  and  that  there  was  a  little  boy  near  it.  This  made  the  chief  angry, 
and  as  the  people  were  returning  home,  he  commanded  them  to  stop 
and  inquired  who  killed  the  cow.  All  denied  having  done  so. 


OCTOBER,  1903.     TRADITIONS  OF  THE  CROWS — SIMMS.  313 

As  the  man  left  the  younger  grandson,  the  boy  had  hid  some  of  the 
fat  in  his  blanket.  When  the  chief  said  to  the  boy  that  he  must  have 
killed  the  cow,  the  boy  denied  and  the  chief  killed  him  on  the  spot.  The 
chief  took  up  the  boy's  body  and  slid  it  over  the  ice,  saying,  "Father, 
here  is  something  for  you  to  eat."  As  the  boy's  body  was  sliding  over 
the  ice  to  an  air  hole,  the  fat  he  had  in  his  blanket  fell  out.  When  the 
boy  fell  into  the  air  hole  the  father  of  the  bad  chief,  instead  of  eating 
the  boy,  took  pity  on  him  and  restored  him  to  life  and  gave  him  a  bear 
skin  robe,  made  some  arrows  and  marked  each  arrow  with  yellow, 
black  and  blue  (medicine  colors),  and  told  the  boy  to  kill  his  son,  the 
chief. 

When  he  came  out,  he  picked  up  the  fat  he  had  dropped  on  the  ice 
and  went  to  the  place  where  he  had  cached  the  choice  bits  of  meat,  and 
finished  butchering  the  buffalo  cow.  He  took  the  meat  and  went  to  his 
grandmother's  tipi,  where  they  were  mourning  for  him.  With  the 
meat,  his  grandmother  and  the  two  grandsons  had  a  good  supper.  The 
next  morning,  he  said  to  his  grandmother,  "Put  out  the  choice  pieces 
of  meat  and  dry  them  and  do  not  hide  them.'' 

The  next  morning,  when  the  chief  saw  smoke  coming  out  of  the 
tipi,  he  sent  his  wife  (the  sister-in-law  of  the  boy),  and  told  her  to  see 
what  the  grandmother  and  two  boys  were  doing.  When  she  reached 
the  tipi  she  looked  in  and  saw  the  grandmother  and  the  two  grand- 
children eating  good  buffalo  meat.  She  returned  to  the  chief  and  told 
him  what  she  had  seen  and  the  chief  sent  his  wife  again  and  told  her 
to  bring  all  the  meat  to  him.  She  told  the  grandmother  and  the  two 
boys  that  the  chief  wanted  the  meat.  The  grandmother  and  the  older 
brother  were  about  to  give  the  meat  to  the  woman  for  the  chief,  but  the 
younger  boy  said,  "The  chief  is  strong  and  can  use  his  arrows  and  can 
go  after  his  own  meat."  The  woman  told  the  chief  that  the  little  boy 
refused  to  give  him  (the  chief)  the  meat,  and  for  the  chief  to  get  his 
own  meat. 

Soon  after  this,  another  big  buffalo  hunt  was  held,  when  the  little 
boy  and  his  brother  killed  two  of  the  best  buffalo  and  butchered  them. 
One  of  the  ten  men  selected  by  the  chief  saw  the  boys  butchering  the 
buffalo  and  demanded  the  best  parts.  The  boys  refused  to  give  any 
to  the  man,  who  told  the  chief. 

Soon  afterwards,  a  big  elk  killing  was  made,  when  the  little  boy 
killed  two  elks  and  took  the  teeth  and  the  best  parts.  Again  one  of  the 
ten  men  of  the  chief  demanded  the  teeth  and  the  best  parts  of  the  elk 
for  the  chief,  and  again  the  little  boy  refused,  and  told  the  man  not  to 
come  there  again. 


314        FIELD  COLUMBIAN  MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  II. 

A  fourth  hunt  was  held,  this  time  for  buffalo,  when  two  buffalo 
were  killed  by  the  little  boy,  who  secured  the  best  parts.  This  time, 
the  chief  sent  five  of  his  men  to  demand  the  meat  of  the  little  boy, 
and  again  the  little  boy  refused  and  told  the  men  to  tell  the  chief  to  get 
his  own  meat.  When  the  five  men  told  the  chief,  he  became  very 
angry  and  said  he  was  going  to  kill  the  little  boy  and  get  the  meat 
himself.  He  went  to  the  boy  and  found  him  butchering  the  buffalo. 

The  chief  said  to  the  boy,  "Do  you  want  to  die?"^  But  the  boy 
paid  no  attention  to  the  chief,  who  shot  an  arrow  at  him,  which  bounded 
back,  the  chief  shot  'the  second,  third,  and  fourth  arrow  at  the  boy, 
and  each  arrow  bounded  back.  After  the  fourth  arrow  had  been  shot, 
the  boy  stood  up  and  when  the  chief  saw  that  the  arrows  had  not  killed 
the  boy,  he  begged  for  mercy,  and  offered  to  give  the  boy  half  of  his 
wives,  horses,  meat,  and  his  big  tipi,  but  the  boy  refused  and  said,  "All 
are  going  to  be  mine."  He  then  shot  an  arrow  into  the  chief  and  killed 
him. 

The  little  boy  called  to  his  brother  to  help  him  drag  the  body  of  the 
chief  to  the  place  where  he  had  thrown  the  little  boy  in  and  the  two 
boys  dragged  the  dead  chief  to  the  place  and  threw  him  in,  and  as  he 
was  thrown  in,  the  chief's  father  came  up  and  took  him  under  the  water 
and  ate  him.  The  killing  of  the  chief  by  the  little  boy  had. been  heard 
of  about  the  camp. 

When  the  boys  returned  home  and  told  what  had  happened,  the 
people  were  glad. 

The  boy  said,  "All  the  men  whose  wives  and  horses  were  taken  by 
the  chief  may  have  them  back,  and  I  will  keep  his  own  horses  and  his 
tipi,  for  I  am  now  chief." 


23. — THE  YOUNG  MEN  AND  THE  TURTLE. 

A  long  time  ago  twenty  young  men  went  to  the  enemy's  country 
to  make  war  with  them,  but  seeing  nothing  of  the  enemy,  they  returned 
home.  On  their  way  back,  they  came  upon  the  top  of  a  hill  and  they 
saw  what  they  thought  a  large  body  of  water,  like  a  lake,  and  when 
they  approached  it,  it  proved  to  be  a  great  turtle  that  was  moving  across 
the  prairie. 

Eighteen  of  them  climbed  upon  the  back  of  the  turtle  and  enjoyed 
themselves  by  singing.  The  other  two  were  afraid  to  get  on,  for  fear 
of  its  being  something  supernatural,  and  went  on  ahead  and  mounted 
a  high  hill,  from  which  they  could  see  a  big  lake.  They  shouted  back  to 
their  companions  to  get  off  the  turtle,  for  it  would  go  into  the  lake. 


OCTOBER,  1903.      TRADITIONS  OF  THE  CROWS — SIMMS  315 

They  tried  to  get  off,  but  could  not,  as  they  were  stuck  fast  to  the 
shell.  When  the  turtle  got  on  the  high  hill,  the  men  saw  the  lake 
themselves,  and  their  doom,  and  all  began  to  sing  their  death  songs, 
while  the  turtle  crawled  into  the  lake  and  went  under  the  water  and 
the  eighteen  men  were  drowned.  The  two  who  were  afraid  to  get  on, 
went  home  and  told  all  of  the  great  turtle,  and  that  is  why  we  know  it. 

24. — DWARFS  ON  THE  LEDGE. 

Long  time  ago  there  lived  a  very  dwarfish  people  who  lived  in 
cliffs  and  had  no  fire.  Their  bows  were  made  of  deer  antlers  and  their 
arrow  heads  were  of  flint.  They  were  so  powerful  that  they  could 
carry  buffalo  on  their  backs. 

From  the  large  number  of  buffalo  heads  lying  beneath  a  projecting 
ledge  on  Pryor  Creek,  it  is  said  that  these  dwarfs  lived  there,  upon  this 
ledge.  For  many  years  past,  it  has  been  the  custom  of  the  Indians 
passing  (and  of  those  who  go  there  purposely)  to  shoot  arrows  in 
this  ledge  (which  may  be  seen  to-day),  and  with  each  arrow  shot,  a 
prayer  was  made,  that  the  person  may  be  as  strong  as  the  dwarf  people 
and  that  his  aim  may  be  as  true  and  unerring  as  theirs.'  It  appears  as 
though  the  arrows  discharged  to-day  do  not  stick  as  formerly. 

Many  persons  have  seen  a  large  number  of  arrows  projecting  from 
the  ledge.  The  creek  near  the  place  is  called  by  the  Indians,  " Arrow- 
Creek." 

25. — THE  PLACE  WHERE  THE  BUFFALO  GO  OVER  BY  THE  WILL  OF  THE 

SUN. 

On  Pryor  Creek  near  Chief  Plenty-Coup's  place  is  a  gully,  about 
twelve  feet  deep,  and  the  bed  is  wider  than  the  top  opening,  which  is 
about  two  feet  wide. 

It  is  said  that  in  years  past,  when  the  buffalo,  deer,  and  elk  would 
step  over  this  opening,  the  gap  would  widen  to  such  an  extent  that  the 
animals  would  fall  to  the  bottom,  and  the  opening  would  resume  its 
former  width. 

Bones  of  animals  are  to  be  seen  through  the  opening  at  the  top, 
which  has  closed  considerable  by  accumulations,  etc.  This  place  is 
called  by  the  Indians,  "The  place  where  the  buffalo  go  over  by  the  will 
of  the  Sun." 


316        FIELD  COLUMBIAN  MUSEUM— ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  II. 

26. — BABY  TRACKS. 

About  twenty  miles  north  of  Plenty-Coup's  Camp,  on  Pryor  Creek, 
is  a  spring  with  cliffs  surrounding  it,  and  around  the  spring  proper  the 
ground  is  level,  and  upon  this  level  ground,  it  is  said  that  there  were 
baby  tracks. 

It  was  the  custom  many  years  ago  (and  to  a  limited  extent,  now) 
for  married  women  who  were  barren  and  wished  to  become  mothers, 
to  go  to  this  spring  and  take  with  them  a  pair  of  baby  moccasins  and 
pray  that  they  might  be  blessed  with  a  child. 


ABSTRACTS. 

i. — ORIGIN  MYTH. 

Old-Man  tells  ducks  to  dive  and  bring  dirt  from  bottom.  Old-Man  blows 
dirt  in  various  directions  and  makes  land,  mountains  and  rivers.  Crow  Indian 
man  and  woman  then  made  and  Old-Man  explains  to  them  how  to  increase. 
Man  and  woman  at  first  blind  and  naked.  Old-Man  makes  animals  and  fruits, 
that  they  may  have  food  and  clothing.  Old-Man  kills  buffalo  and  with  piece  of 
stone  cuts  it  up  and  explains  its  parts.  He  teaches  man  and  woman  how  to  make 
things  of  stone,  etc.,  and  how  to  make  fire.  Old-Man  gives  them  dogs  and  tells 
them  how  to  get  horses;  also  how  to  have  visions  and  to  build  sweat  houses. 

2. — OLD  MAN  COYOTE  AND  THE  THEFT  OF  SUMMER. 

Once  it  was  always  Winter  and  towards  South  always  Summer.  Summer 
and  Winter  owned  by  Woman  wiith  strong  heart.  Old  Man  Coyote  tells  youth 
he  is  going  after  Summer.  He  gets  four  animals,  male  Deer,  male  Coyote,  male 
Jack  Rabbit  and  male  Wolf  and  asks  them  how  far  they  can  run.  Summer  and 
Winter  kept  in  different  colored  bags.  Old  Man  Coyote  becomes  Elk  and  goes 
down  and  exposes  himself  to  Surrmer.  Woman  goes  out  on  hearing  shouts  and 
Coyote  slips  into  her  tipi.  Woman  returns  and  meets  Coyote  at  door.  He  rubs 
medicine  paint  on  her  face  and  she  loses  her  voice.  Coyote  carries  off  bag  con-' 
taining  Summer  and  runs  with  it  until  he  is  tired.  Then  Jack  Rabbit  takes  it, 
afterwards  Deer  and  finally  Wolf.  On  reaching  destination  Wolf  opens  bag  and 
agreement  made  with  children  of  Summer  country  that  each  country  should  have 
half  Summer  and  half  Winter.  Old  Man  Coyote  makes  Prairie  Chicken  that 
youth  may  have  birds  to  chase. 

3- — OLD  MAN  COYOTE  AND  THE  STRAWBERRY. 

Old  Man  Coyote  eating  Wild  Strawberries  sees  four  women  coming.  He 
transfers  himself  under  brush  and  lets  penis  project  up  among  strawberries. 
Women  try  unsuccessfully  to  pluck  head  of  penis  for  strawberry.  They  go  for 
sharp  flint  to  cut  it  off  and  on  return  strawberry  has  disappeared.  Women 
agree  to. retaliate  on  Old  Man  Coyote,  and  one  day  seeing  him  coming  through 
woods,  they  disrobe,  make  their  noses  bleed  and  smear  their  bodies  as  though 
they  had  been  murdered  and  lie  down  on  grass.  Old  Man  Coyote  sees  and  ex- 
amines them  and  says  they  must  have  been  dead  a  long  time,  they  smelt  so 
badly.  When  he  goes  away  short  distance  women  get  up  and  tell  him  they 
have  retaliated  for  what  he  did  to  them. 

4. — OLD  MAN  COYOTE  AND  THE  BEARS. 

Old  Man  Coyote  sees  bears  burying  each  other  in  play.  Bears  bury  him  and 
pull  him  out  when  he  whistles.  Old  Man  Coyote  makes  big  pit  and  after  putting 
bears  in  pit,  he  covers  them  up  and  builds  fire.  Bears  whistle  but  he  pours 
water  on  heated  rocks,  cooks  them  and  eats  them. 

317 


318        FIELD  COLUMBIAN  MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  II. 

S. — OLD  MAN  COYOTE  AND  THE  BUFFALO. 

Old  Man  Coyote  persuades  buffalo  to  run  race  with  him  to  edge  of  bank, 
over  which  they- jump  with  eyes  shut  and  are  killed.  He  then  feasts  off  them. 

6. — OLD  MAN  COYOTE  AND  THE  FOUR  MEN,  FAT,  GREASE  AND  BERRIES. 

Coyote  meets  four  men,  whose  bodies  are  made  of  fat,  grease  and  all  kinds 
ot  berries,  fruits,  etc.  He  becomes  poor  dog  and  gets  tin  front  of  them.  While 
they  pat  his  head  he  licks  them.  They  pass  and  Old  Man  Coyote  gets  in 
front  of  them  again  as  a  larger  dog.  He  licks  them  again  and  bites  small  pieces 
off  them.  Again  he  meets  them,  a  still  larger  dog  and  bites  larger  pieces.  The 
fourth  time  they  discover  who  it  is  and  begin  to  run.  Old  Man  Coyote  knocks 
them  down  in  old  lake  bed  and  they  melt  into  soup.  He  calls  for  his  partner 
and  sends  him  for  his  spoon  (lynx's  tatil).  His  partner  goes  but  returns,  claim- 
ing his  moccasins  were  worn  out.  This  occurs  three  times,  Old  Man  Coyote 
fitting  him  with  different  kind  of  moccasins  each  time.  Then  Old  Man  Coyote 
goes  for  spoon  and  partner  drinks  all  soup  and  runs  away.  Coyote  finds  partner 
asleep  and  pushes  stick  through  his  rectum  into  ground.  He  then  builds  fire 
and  arouses  partner  who  dashes  away  to  save  himself.  As  he  runs  his  intestines 
stretch  out  across  country.  Old  Man  Coyote  sucks  soup  out  of  intestines  but 
finally  vomits  all  up. 

7. — OLD  MAN  COYOTE  AJND  THE  GOOSEBERRY  BUSHES. 

Old  Man  Coyote  dares  Gooseberry  to  make  him  itch.  He  eats  many  goose- 
berries and  rubs  his  body  with  them.  He  scratches  and  rubs  against  bushes  and 
rocks  until  he  bleeds  all  over. 

8. — OLD  MAN  COYOTE  AND  THE  INDIAN  TURNIP. 

Old  Man  Coyote  asks  Indian  Turnip  its  name.  He  eats  many  turnips  and 
Breaks  wlind.  He  is  raised  off  the  ground  and  takes  bushes  and  rocks  into  air. 
He  pulls  up  big  trees  but  is  carried  from  roots  of  birch  tree  to  top  and  falls 
to  ground  again. 

Q. — OLD  MAN  COYOTE  AND  THE  BEAVERS. 

Old  Man  Coyote  comes  to  beaver  dam  and  runs  stick  through  his  body. 
Mother  beaver  finds  him  and  takes  Mm  home.  He  cuts  off  heads  of  little 
beavers,  burns  them  on  each  side  of  mouth  and  places  heads  where  they  generally 
slept.  He  eats  remainder  of  them.  Mother  beaver  tells  him  not  to  drink  water 
on  hands  and  knees.  He  does  so  and  beaver  bites  his  nose  off.  He  makes  nose 
out  of  mud  and  afterwards  of  fruit  pits. 

10  — OLD  MAN  COYOTE.,  THE  WOLF  AND  THE  HOLES  IN  THE  ICE. 

Rock  tied  to  Wolf's  tail  makes  holes  in  ice  as  Wolf  trots  over  it,  and  fat 
of  buffalo  sticks  up  through  holes.  Old  Man  Coyote  offers  Wolf  throwing  stick 
wiith  buffalo  horn  on  end  if  he  will  show  him  how  to  do  it.  Wolf  accepts  and 
Old  Man  Coyote  ties  rock  to  corner  of  robe.  He  makes  holes  and  eats  fat;  then 
takes  throwing  stick  away  from  Wolf  and  runs  off.  Wolf  tells  him  not  to  try 
to  walk  on  ice  as  before,  but  he  does  and  falls  and  his  rump  sticks  fast  to  ice 
under  berry  trees.  Old  Man  Coyote  threshes  bushes  with  branch  until  all 


ABSTRACTS— SIMMS.  319 

berries  are  on  ice.  He  then  calls  all  animals  to  big  feast.  He  tells  them  to 
dance  while  he  sings  that  he  may  get  free.  They  dance  and  when  he  is  nearly 
free  he  sends  beaver  for  large  drum  stick.  He  becomes  free  and  tells  animals 
to  shut  their  eyes  while  he  sings  his  last  song.  With  drum  stick  Old  Man 
Coyote  kills  most  animals  and  he  enjoys  another  feast. 

n. — OLD  MAN  COYOTE,  BALD-HEAD  EAGLE  AND  HIS  ILLEGITIMATE  OFFSPRING,  THE 
THUNDER-BIRD  AND  THE  MORNING  STAR. 

Old  Man  Coyote  induces  Thunder-Bird  to  live  with  wife  of  Bald-Head 
Eagle.  Offspring  is  born  to  them  in  form  of  young  eagle.  There  are  two 
men  of  earth.  One  is  given  power  by  Morning  Star.  Other  obtains  power  of 
Offspring  and  becomes  rich.  Man  given  power  by  Morning  Star  makes  a  red 
feather  charm  with  which  he  shoots  other  man  in  heart  and  kills 
him.  Eagle  obtains  red  feather  and  finds  out  who  killed  man.  Body 
of  dead  man  and  Offspring  make  big  storm  with  thunder  and  lightning.  This 
worries  Morning  Star  who  asks  Old  Man  Coyote  for  advice.  He  advises  him 
to  get  out  of  the  way  or  to  change  existence  of  two  men,  which  Morning  Star 
does. 

12. — OLD  MAN  COYOTE,  THE  MAN  AND  Cow  BUFFALO  AND  Cow  ELK. 

Old  Man  Coyote  induces  wandering  man  to  have  connection  with  buffalo 
cow  and  afterwards  with  cow  elk,  stuck  fast  in  mud.  Buffalo  and  Elk  each  give 
birth  to  boy.  Man  returns  home  and  while  playing  game  of  ring  and  arrows, 
little  boy  wiith  short  neck  and  curly  hair  and  having  buffalo  calf  robe  approaches 
and  asks  him  to  give  him  some  if  he  wins  anything.  Soon  another  little  boy. 
with  lighter  hair  and  longer  neck,  approaches  and  asks  same  question.  Man 
tells  them  to  bring  therir  mothers.  They  come  as  women.  Man  does  not  care 
for  elk  woman.  Buffalo  woman  agrees  to  Live  with  him  on  condition  that  he 
does  not  call  her  harsh  names.  Man  vexed  one  day  pronounces  forbidden  word. 
Woman  becomes  buffalo  cow  and  child  buffalo  calf.  Man  chases  them  and 
comes  upon  big  herd  of  buffalo.  -Little  buffalo  calf  comes  and  tells  him  that 
he  will  have  to  pick  calf  out  from  all  calves  of  same  age  and  if  he  fails  he  is 
to  be  gored  to  death.  Calf  says  he  will  give  signal  by  twitching  left  ear.  Man 
also  has  to  pick  mother  out  of  circle  and  calf  says  he  will  rub  clay  on  her  left 
shoulder.  Circles  of  cows  and  calves  formed  and  man  picks  out  wife  and  child. 
Buffalo  start  to  gore  him  to  death.  Old  Man  Coyote  had  instructed  man  to 
place  buffalo  sinew  and  eagle  breath  feather  on  top  of  his  head  to  re- 
volve when  dancing.  Now  feather  rises  in  air  and,  as  man's  being  is  in  feather, 
there  is  no  one  in  center  of  circle  and  buffalo  gore  each  other.  At  last  they  see 
his  medicine  stronger  than  theirs  and  they  let  him  have  wife  and  child. 

13. — OLD  MAN  COYOTE  AND  THE  INFANT  WHO  WAS  ADOPTED  BY  THE  BUFFALO. 

Boy  born  of  unmarried  daughter  of  chief,  by  her  father,  thrown  into  buffalo 
wallow.  It  is  found  and  adopted  by  seven  buffalo  bulls.  Four  of  bulls  suc- 
cessively toss  baby  in  air  and  at  fourth  toss  it  stands  on  (its  feet  and  runs. 
Bulls  teach  boy  animal  ways.  He  makes  bow  and  arrow.  When  asked,  boy  says 
he  will  marry  one  of  his  own  %  people.  Buffalo  prepare  him  for  journey,  tie 
stuffed  hawk  to  scalp  lock  and  give  him  long  bow  and  wearing  apparel.  He 
overtakes  Old  Man  Coyote  who  pushes  him  into  pit  and  leaves  him  there  after 


320        FIELD  COLUMBIAN  MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  II. 

getting  from  him  his  bow  and  hawk.  Young  man  transformed  into  baby  and 
old  woman  from  camp  hears  it  cry.  She  rescues  baby  and  takes  it  to  her  tipi. 
It  grows  rapidly.  Once  when  meat  scarce  boy  makes  hoop  of  buffalo  hide. 
Tells  foster  brother  to  roll  hoop  and  make  wish  for  buffalo  of  any  kind.  He 
cloes  so  and  boy  shoots  arrow  at  hoop  whiich  becomes  young  buffalo  bull.  Boy 
repeats  process  for  grandmother  and  old  fat  bull  is  killed.  Chief  offers  his 
daughter  to  any  one  getting  red  bird  for  him.  Boy  kills  bird  but  Old  Man 
Coyote  runs  off  with  it.  Chief  again  offers  daughter  in  marriage  for  pelt  of  red 
fox.  Boy  traps  fox,  'but  Old  Man  Coyote  runs  off  with  it.  Grandmother  gets 
feather  from  red  bird  and  some  hair  from  fox  for  boy.  Boy  sends  grandmother 
to  tell  Chief  he  has  killed  red  bird  and  fox  and  wants  to  marry  his  daughter. 
Grandmother  says  boy  will  come  four  times  and  daughter  must  catch  him  one 
of  the  times  and  no  one  was  to  look  out  of  tipis.  Little  Buffalo  calf  comes 
in  bellowing  and  daughter  loses  courage  and  fails  to  catch  him.  Next  time  he 
comes  as  yearling  buffalo  bull  and  breaks  fastening  pin  of  tipi.  Daughter  again 
fails.  Third  time  he  conies  'as  dangerous  two-year-old  bull.  Daughter  shuts 
her  eyes  and  grabs  bull  about  neck  and  bull  is  transformed  into  young  man.  He 
gives  red  bird  and  fox  to  Chief  and  marries  daughter.  Old  Man  Coyote  brings 
to  Chief  bag  he  supposes  to  contain  red  bird  and  fox,  but  when  opened  they 
are  buzzard  and  gray  wolf.  Chief  pities  Old  Man  Coyote  and  gives  him  an 
older  homely  daughter.  Camp  moves  to  bank  of  river  where  all  go  swimming. 
Young  man  transformed  into  buffalo  bull  who  takes  wife  across  river  on  his 
back.  Old  Man  Coyote  says  he  can  do  lit,  transforms  himself,  but  only  into  gray 
wolf.  Wife  grabs  him  by  tail  and  swims  little  way,  but  they  are  nearly  drowned. 
Women  stand  in  row  and  young  man  points  out  his  mother,  who  tells  him  never 
to  say  anything  with  reference  to  his  father. 

14. — OLD  MAN  COYOTE,  THE  GIANTS  AND  THEIR  LITTLE  ENEMIES. 

Three  young  men  find  buffalo  trail  terminating  in  big  hole  in  side  of 
mountain.  They  walk  four  days  through  hole  and  then  come  out  into  another 
world,  where  people  are  tall  and  large  and  there  are  plenty  of  buffalo.  Old  Man 
Coyote  tells  them  to  ask  for  horses,  as  they  are  buffalo.  Big  people  very  kind 
and  let  them  take  and  eat  buffalo.  Big  people  go  into  tipis  to  escape 
enemies,  who  are  mosquitoes,  ants  and  bugs  with  small  animals  and  birds.  Three 
young  men  kill  many  and  chase  others  from  camp.  Big  people  very  thankful  and 
let  young  men  take  as  many  buffalo  as  they  want.  They  drive^  buffalo  through 
hole  four  days.  At  end  something  is  asleep,  one  part  resembling  alligator  and 
other  part  resembling  otter.  They  light  fire  and  burn  through  it.  One  of  young 
men  eats  some  of  it  and  changes  to  long  otter.  Otter  dives  (into  lake  and  tells  com- 
panions that  whenever  his  people  go  to  war  they  must  come  and  see  him  and  he 
will  give  them  power. 

15. — OLD  MAN  COYOTE,  THE  YOUNG  MAN  AND  Two  OTTER  SISTERS. 

Old  Man  Coyote  tells  rich  young  man  he  will  find  him  suitable  wife.  Young 
man  goes  to  place  where  young  men  were  pulling  people,  sat  on  buffalo  skulls, 
over  ice.  He  sees  two  beautiful  women  whom  he  thus  treats.  Women  are  long 
otters  wiith  fine  fur,  transformed  to  ensnare  husband.  They  force  young  man  into 
air  hole  and  he  finds  himself  in  tipi  under  water.  He  marries  them,  goes  to 
buffalo  hunt  and  brings  meat,  which  wives  dump  through  air  hole.  Young  man 


ABSTRACTS — SIMMS. 


321 


goes  to  camp  and  tells  of  his  marriage  to  women  otters  and  asks  that  all  should 
go  buffalo  hunting  for  his  father-in-law,  who  never  gets  enough  to  eat.  Big 
killing  is  made  and  young  man  announces  that  father-in-law  and  his  friends 
\\ill  have  feast  and  will  break  up  ice.  Father-in-law  tells  man  to  plait  his 
scalp  lock  and  tie  ends  with  otter  skins.  Whenever  enemies  come  to  him  he  is 
to  .touch  scalp  lock  to  ground  and  he  will  disappear  under  ground.  He 
returns  to  his  people,  is  made  Chief  and  cures  wounded  warriors  at  water  with 
his  medicine.  One  of  wives  goes  to  him  and  has  boy  child.  She  tells  him  not 
to  call  her  bad  name.  He  does  so  and  she  is  transformed  into  otter  and  leaves 
him.  Husband  follows  her  but  he  cannot  stay  under  water.  He  cries  on  river 
bank  and  father-in-law  tells  daughters  to  take  him  back.  Finally  daughter 
without  child  takes  him  back  and  they  live  happily  together. 

16. — OLD  MAN  COYOTE,  HIS  DEEDS  AND  "SORE-TAIL." 

Old  Man  Coyote  had  under  his  protection.  "Sore-Tail,"  who  leads  his  people 
in  war.  When  they  see  enemy's  camp  Old  Man  Coyote  transforms  himself  into 
Sun.  "Sore-Tail,"  as  directed  by  Sun,  puts  bright  red  circles  around  his  face. 
If  face  looks  like  Sun  there  will  be  big  killing  of  enemy.  Sun  has  bright  circle 
around  it  and  they  kill  many.  Old  Man  Coyote  becomes  wiser  and  is  more  re- 
spected. He  gives  power  to  man  White  Robe  who  sees  him  in  vision.  He 
lengthens  night  by  splicing  to  enable  White  Robe  to  reach  camp  before  day- 
break. This  done  by  shield , of  White  Robe. 

Old  Man  Coyote  tells  geese  to  come  over  lake.  As  they  come  he  wrings 
their  necks,  except  last  one  which  is  so  tall  and  strong  he  cannot  wring  his  neck. 
He  elongates  it  by  pulling,  and  ever  since  geese  have  had  long  necks. 

17.— THE  CREATOR,  THE  PORCUPINE  AND  THE  CLIMBING  WOMAN. 

The  Creator  sees  beautiful  woman,  whom  he  wants  for  wife  and  asks  Por- 
cupine to  assist  him.  Porcupine  climbs  tree  near  where  woman  will  go  for  wood. 
She  sees  porcupine  and  climbs  tree  to  get  it.  Porcupine  keeps  moving  up  higher 
and  woman  follows  until  she  is  lost  to  view  of  companion.  She  soon  appears 
before  Creator  (Sun)  whom  she  marries.  Boy  is  born.  Creator  tells  wife  not 
to  lift  any  buffalo  manure  and  that  boy  is  not  to  kill  meadow  larks,  as  they 
can  talk  Indian  words.  Wife  lifts  buffalo  manure  which  covers  hole  through 
which  she  sees  people  on  earth.  Boy  kills  meadow  lark,  when  other  meadow 
larks  say  he  does  not  belong  up  there.  Creator  now  plans  for  their  return  home. 
Long  rope  is  made  of  buffalo  sinew  and  mother  and  boy  are  lowered  through 
hole.  Rope  not  long  enough  to  reach  earth.  Creator  tells  large  rock  padded 
with  buffalo  hair  to  go  down  and  break  rope.  Rock  hits  woman  on  head  and 
kills  her  and  son  wanders  over  earth  killing  all  animals  he  sees.  Boy  places 
arrows  in  upright  position  around  his  body  that  they  may  fall  and  waken  him 
if  anything  comes  to  harm  him.  Snake  crawls  under  earth  and  into  boy's  body 
through  rectum.  Boy  tears  legs  from  body  to  catch  snake,  but  it  goes  in  his 
head.  All  flesh  falls  from  boy  and  Creator  causes  skull  to  roll  into  gully  filled 
with  water.  Snake  afraid  to  come  out  and  dies  in  skull.  Boy  never  regains 
former  shape. 

l8. — BONES-TOGETHER. 

Chief's  daughter  says  to  buffalo's  skull  at  spring  she  will  marry  it,  if  her 
father's  people  get  meat  soon.  Successful  hunt  soon  afterwards.  Chiefs  daugh- 


322        FIELD  COLUMBIAN  MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  II. 

ter  sees  near  spring  young  man,  wearing  buffalo  robe,  who  reminds  her  of  what 
she  said  to  skull.  She  agrees  to  marry  him.  She  goes  to  tipi  for  sewing 
materials  and  on  return  to  spring  young  man  is  buffalo  bull,  Bones-Together, 
who  carries  her  away  on  his  shoulders  and  marries  her.  Previous  husband 
of  daughter  asks  big  eagle  to  help  him  to  find  wife.  Eagle  tells  him  Bones- 
Together  has  wife  and  he  tis  all  powerful.  All  animals  but  mole  afraid  of 
Bones-Together.  Moles  carry  man  under  ground  to  where  bull  was  standing  on 
high  hill,  with  wife  sitting  sewing.  Bones-Together  goes  for  water. 
Man  springs  out  of  hole,  grabs  his  wife  and'  goes  back  with  her 
underground.  They  come  to  river,  down  which  they  go  in  boat  of  willows. 
Bones-Together  tracks  them  as  far  as  river  and  then  calls  for  assistance.  Man 
?nd  wife  climb  tree  into  Bald-Head  Eagle's  nest.  Buffalo  from  all  directions  run 
under  tree  and  drop  of  woman's  urine  falls  on  last  one.  Buffalo  sees  man  and 
woman  in  tree  and  signals  others  to  return.  They  try  to  butt  tree  down  and 
man  and  wife  pray  all  animals  to  help  them.  Night  hawk  tells  them  where  to 
shoot  at  buffalo.  Buffalo  scatter  in  all  directions  and  man  and  wife  come  down 
and  go  home. 

19. — RED- WOMAN  AND  THE  DEEDS  OF  Two  BOYS. 

Red-Woman  kills  pregnant  woman,'  cuts  her  open  and  finds  twins.  She 
throws  one  behind  tipi  /curtain  and  other  into  spring.  "Thrown-behtind-the-Cur- 
tain"  makes  himself  known  to  father.  Asks  father  to  make  him  two  bows  and 
arrows.  Other  boy  is  "Thrown-in-Spring,"  who  has  otter  teeth.  He  is 
caught  by  brother  and  father.  They  burn  incense  under  his  nose  and  he  be- 
comes human.  Boys  wake  up  mother.  They  go  to  places  forbidden  by  father 
and  perform  various  exploits.  Kill  old  woman  who  has  a  boiling  pot  which 
draws  living  things  into  it  when  tilted.  They  are  drawn  into  immense  alligator- 
like  serpent,  which  they  kill  by  cutting  off  its  heart.  They  disable  three  trees 
which  bend  down  suddenly  and  kill  things  in  their  way.  They  go  to  snakes' 
tipi  and  kill  all  snakes  but  one,  whose  head  they  flatten  by  rubbing  against 
cliff.  By  stratagem  they  escape  being  pushed  over  bank  into  water.  Man 
(falls  into  water  instead  and  is  eaten  by  his  father  in  water.  They  go 
to  man  who  wears  moccasins  of  fire,  take  off  moccasins  while  he  sleeps  and 
burn  him  up.  They  are  carried  to  top  of  mountain  peak  surrounded  by  lake 
and  Thunder-Bird  tells  them  he  wants  them  to  kill  long  otter  who  lives  in  lake. 
They  shoot  it  with  arrows  and  throw  hot  rocks  down  its  throat  and  it  dies.  They 
are  carried  home  through  air  and  live  there  for  many  years. 

20. — THE  STUMP-HORN  AND  THE  BLADDER. 

Hungry  people  hunting  buffalo.  Two  poor  boys,  one  havting  grandmother. 
Boy  wit"h  grandmother  sends  other  boy  to  tell  Chief  to  camp  where  they  are 
playing.  Chief  does  so.  Man  says  elk  coming  down  river  and  chief  asks  boy 
what  to  do.  Boy  tells  him  to  drive  elk  into  sticking  mud.  Other  boy  tells  chief 
to  bring  him  stump-horn  of  old  elk,  also  its  bladder.  Chief  sends  all  elk  teeth 
to  boys.  One  of  them  returns  them  to  chief  for  his  daughter.  Chief  sends 
for  boys  and  gives  them  his  two  daughters.  Some  time  after  their  marriage 
chief  sends  word  to  boys  through  daughters  that  people  will  starve  if  meat  cannot 
be  had.  Boy  who  owns  stump-horn  and  bladder  directs  large  corral  to  be  built. 
Boys  drive  buffalo  into  corral  on  four  occasions.  Four  times  boys  disappear 


ABSTRACTS — SIMMS.  323 

with  stump-horn  and  bladder  and  come  back  with  enemy's  horses  and  four 
times  with  enemies'  scalps.  Boys'  medicines  are  stars,  enclosed  in  bladder, 
which  come  out  and  execute  deeds  required  of  them.  Third  boy  joins  and  then 
fourth  boy.  Boys  go  to  enemies'  camp  and  stars  come  from  bladder  as  warriors 
who  defeat  enemy.  Boys  take  home  scalps  and  prisoners.  Fourth  boy  tells  two 
daughters  of  chief  how  keeper  of  bladder  and  associates  were  so  victorious. 
Keeper  of  bladder  thereupon  disappears,  with  medicine,  in  sky  where  he  be- 
longed and  was  formerly  big  star. 

21. — THE  BEAUTIFUL   DAUGHTER  OF  A   CHIEF,   HER  WICKED  HUSBAND 
AND  THE  SEVEN  BROTHERS. 

Daughter  of  chief  says  she  will  marry  man  she  next  meets  at  spring.  She 
sees  man  in  buffalo  robe  and  follows  him  to  camp.  Man  accustomed  to  go  after 
beautiful  women  and,  when  they  vex  him  four  times,  to  throw  them  over  steep 
bank  into  river,  then  father,  in  shape  of  alligator,  devours  them.  Chief's  daugh- 
ter told  by  man  to  comb  his  haiir.  She  finds  snakes  in  hair  and  pushes  man 
away,  which  vexes  him  first  time.  Next  day  man  orders  her  to  wipe  his  neck. 
She  finds  worms  crawling  around  it  and  again  pushes  him  away,  which  vexes 
him  second  time.  Man  then  diirects  her  to  wash  his  feet.  They  are  decayed 
and  badly  swollen.  She  vexes  him  third  time  by  refusing.  Man  then  tells  her 
to  make  robe  of  thick  buffalo  hide.  She  has  no  tools  and  cannot  do  so,  but  he 
insists  and  is  vexed  for  fourth  time.  They  go  to  pick  bernies  and  on  return 
man  tells  her  to  go  to  work,  on  buffalo  robe.  She  tries,  but  cannot,  folds  up  as 
pillow,  lays  head  upon  it  and  cries.  Ants  come  and  ask  why  she  is  crying.  They 
tell  her  to  leave  it  there  and  come  back  on  fourth  day.  She  does  and  finds  beau- 
tiful robe.  Ants  warn  her  that  husband  would  try  to  push  her  over  bank  for 
his  father  to  eat,  show  her  how  to  escape  and  say  that  only  seven  brothers 
living  on  side  of  mountain  peak  can  help  her.  Next  day  husband  takes  her  to 
bank  and  tries  to  push  her  over  but  he  goes  into  river  instead.  Woman  flees 
to  mountain  peak.  Father  eats  son  but  vomits  him  and  puts  him  together  again 
and  tells  him  to  catch  wife.  He  is  just  behind  her  when  she  reaches  tipi  of 
seven  brothers.  She  calls  for  help  and  small  brother,  who  alone  is  at  home, 
tells  her  to  run  four  times  around  tipi.  She  does  so  and  at  fourth  time  door 
opens  and  she  runs  in,  leaving  husband  outside.  Husband  four  times  demands 
wife  of  little  brother,  who  sends,  first  watch  dog  (mountain  lion),  then  bear, 
and  finally  both  together  to  kill  husband,  but  both  return  badly  wounded  and 
die.  Little  brother  then  tries  to  kill  husband.  At  fourth  time  he  throws  hus- 
band. Wife  makes  big  fire.  Husband  is  burned,  sparks  being  thrown  back 
that  his  father  may  not  bring  him  back  to  life.  Six  brothers  return  from  hiuit- 
ing  and  they  agree  to  keep  woman  for  sister.  Little  brother  when  going  hunting 
warns  her  not  to  let  in  woman  carrying  old  man  on  her  back  as  baby.  Old 
woman  comes  and  asks  for  admission.  Sister  refuses,  but  lets  her  in  when  she 
has  demanded  four  times.  When  brothers  return,  little  brother  knows  old  wo- 
man has  been  there  and  says  they  must  leave  or  sister  will  soon  die,  as  old 
woman  is  bad  pnd  powerful.  He  takes  arrow  from  each  brother  and  one  of  his 
own  and  shoots  arrow  through  smoke-hole  of.  tipi.  All  brothers  and 
sister  follow  arrow  through  air.  As  arrow  about  to  drop  another  ar- 
row shot  upwards  and  so  on  until  seventh  arrow  shot.  Brother  and 
sister  follow  to  top  of  high  mountain.  Old  woman  comes  to  tipi,  sees  breath 


324        FIELD  COLUMBIAN  MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  II. 

feathers  from  arrow  sticking  through  opening  at  top  and  follows  brother  and 
sister  through  air.  They  fight  and  all  brothers  but  youngest  and  adopted  sister 
are  killed.  Little  brother  kills  old  woman  and  restores  brothers  to  life.  They 
go  up  above  and  are  turned  linto  the  seven  stars  of  Dipper  and  sister  into  little 
star  near  Dipper.  . 

22. — SELFISH  CHIEF  AND  THE  Two  BOYS. 

Bad  chief  takes  best  of  everything  from  his  followers  and  all  elk  teeth  at 
killing.  Grandmother  had  two  grandsons,  one  having  pretty  wife,  whom  chief 
takes  away.  At  hunting  grandson  sees  dead  buffalo  cow  with  calf,  and  takes 
best  parts  of  cow  and  calf  and  places  them  in  hollow  of  tree.  One  of  chiefs 
men  tells  him  about  cow  and  that  little  boy  was  near  it.  When  boy  denies  he 
killed  cow,  chief  kills  him  and  slides  body  over  ice  to  father  to  eat  Boy  falls 
into  air  hole  and  father  of  bad  chief,  instead  of  eating  him,  restores  him  to  life 
and  gives  him  bear  skin  robe,  makes  arrows  and  marks  them  with  medicine 
colors,  and  tells  boy  to  kill  chief.  Boy  goes  to  tree  and  takes  meat  home.  Chief 
sees  smoke  coming  from  tipi  and  sends  wife  to  see  what  grandmother  and  boy 
are  doing.  She  tells  chief  they  are  eating  good  buffalo  meat  and  he  sends  her 
again  to  bring  meat  to  him.  Younger  brother  will  not  allow  her  to  have  it  and 
says  chief  can  get  his  own  meat.  Next  buffalo  hunt  little  boy  and  brother  kill 
two  buffalo  and  refuse  to  give  any  to  chief.  Soon  afterwards  they  kill  elk  and 
again  refuse  chief.  On  fourth  hunt  little  boy  kills  two  buffalo  and  on  his  re- 
fusing chief's  demand  for  meat,  chief  goes  and  tries  to  kill  him  Arrows  (4) 
bound  back.  Chief  begs  for  mercy  and  offers  boy  half  his  wives  and  other 
property,  but  boy  refuses  and  shoots  him.  ,  Little  boy  and  brother  drag  body 
of  chief  to  place  where  chief  had  thrown  little  boy  in.  Throws  in  body  of  chief 
and  father  eats  him.  They  return  and  little  boy  tells  men  to  take  their  wives 
and  horses  and  declares  himself  chief. 

23. — THE  YOUNG  MEN  AND  THE  TURTLE. 

Twenty  3roung  men  see  great  turtle  moving  across  prairie.  Eighteen  of 
them  climb  on  its  back  and  sing.  Other  two  mount  high  hill  and  see  big  lake. 
They  tell  companions,  but  they  cannot  get  off  turtle  They  sing  death  songs 
while  turtle  goes  into  lake.  Two  others  go  home  and  tell  of  turtle. 

24. — DWARFS  ON  THE  LEDGE, 

Dwarfs  formerly  live  on  projecting  ledge  on  Pryor  Creek.  Indians  shoot 
arrows  into  ledge  and  pray  that  they  may  be  as  strong  as  dwarfs  and  that 
aim  may  be  as  true  as  theirs. 

25. — THE  PLACE  WHERE  THE  BUFFALO  GO  OVER  BY  THE  WILL  OF  THE  SUN. 

On  Pryor  Creek  is  gully,  bed  of  which  is  wider  than  top  opening.  When 
buffalo,  deer  and  elk  stepping  over  opening  it  widens  and  animals  fall  into  bo+- 
tom.  Opening  then  resumes  former  width. 

26. — BABY  TRACKS. 

Twenty  miles  north  of  Plenty-Coup's  Camp,  on  Pryor  Creek,  is  spring,  on 
ground  near  which  are  baby  tracks.  Married  women  go  to  spring,  take  pair  of 
baby  moccasins  and  pray  that  they  may  have  child. 


